NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets welcomed the Cleveland Cavaliers to Barclays Center on Tuesday for the front end of a home-and-home series with the Cavaliers and lost 115-109. The regular-season series is now tied at 1-1 with the third and final game on Thursday.
For the Nets, Day’Ron Sharpe had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Spencer Dinwiddie had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Mikal Bridges had 18 points and Cam Johnson had 16 points.
For the Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell had 31 points and five rebounds while Caris LeVert had 18 points and four assists off the bench. Darius Garland had 17 points and Evan Mobley had 17 points as well.
In the first half, both teams played to a push essentially with the halftime score of 61-55. In the first quarter, Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton got off to good starts as they found their sweet spots on the floor. Brooklyn was able to force Cleveland into plenty of turnovers that led to extra possessions. In the second quarter, Brooklyn’s three-point shooting failed them as they shot just 33.3% while Cleveland shot 50% on mostly wide-open three-point shots.
In the second half, it started off as if Cleveland was going to run away with the game. In the third quarter, the Cavaliers started the period with a 10-3 run and looked unstoppable doing it. However, things changed once Brooklyn’s bench came in the game. The Nets made things interesting in the fourth quarter thanks to the newfound energy, but the 24-point cushion that Cleveland had was too much to overcome.