Cavaliers win opener in Brooklyn

    Donovan Mitchell nailed a three-point shot with thirteen seconds remaining to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a 114-113 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn. 

Mitchell led Cleveland with 27 points and was aided by Max Strus, who also scored 27 to go with a surprising twelve rebounds.

Cleveland will play Friday night in their home opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Swashbucklings

1) What a debut from Max Strus in his first game with the Cavaliers with a double-double.

Strus hit seven three-pointers in the win from thirteen attempts and Strus was a surprising factor on the boards.

Strus was hoped to have been the key addition in bolstering the outside shooting for the team and he's off to a strong start.

2) Donovan Mitchell's game-winner was clutch as the final of his four three-pointers on the evening but he may have gotten one of those calls that star players get as when he received the pass, Mitchell pushed Cameron Johnson to the floor and allowed himself an uncontested shot.

Still, Johnson may have embellished the push a bit as well.

3) Cleveland also received a strong offensive night from Isaac Okoro, who finished with eighteen points, six rebounds, and four assists.

Okoro hit six of ten shots, two from three-point distance, and while it's asking a lot of Okoro to average that every night, this is a contract year for Okoro as he will be a restricted free agent after the season, so it will be interesting to see how Okoro's numbers play out.

4) It wasn't a great night for the other new acquisitions as Georges Niang missed all three of his shots (all from three) in his twenty minutes of play and Ty Jerome hit his only shot but played only six minutes.

5) Jarrett Allen missed the game with a bone bruise on his ankle.

I've heard some trade whispers about Allen and I wonder what the market is after his poor playoff series against the Knicks.

6) The win was the Cavalier's first in a road opener since 2000.

Twenty-three years and three years before they drafted LeBron James.

I would have thought they would have won one of these with James but apparently not.

7) Some credit to Brooklyn's Cameron Thomas, who came off the bench to light up Cleveland with 36 points in 25 minutes to lead all scorers.

Thomas set a record for points scored by a non-scorer in a season-opener.

Thomas was Brooklyn's first-rounder (27th overall) in 2021. hitting thirteen of twenty-one shots from the floor.

Cavaliers lose in Brooklyn

   The Cleveland Cavaliers had to be perfect in their NBA play-in games against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

They weren't and Kyrie Irving was, at least for a while, as the Nets raced out to a twenty-point lead after the first quarter and held the Cavaliers at bay thereafter in a 115-108 Brooklyn victory.

Darius Garland led Cleveland with 34 points with Evan Mobley dropping in 19 as the top secondary scorer.

Cleveland will now watch tonight to see who wins the 9-10 game between Charlotte and Atlanta as they will welcome the winner to Cleveland Friday night.

Swashbucklings

1) Kyrie Irving was perfect in the first half as Irving hit all nine of his shots from the floor including a walk-off third pointer and would hit his first three shots in the third quarter on his way to a 34 point, 12 assist evening.

Cleveland simply couldn't stop Irving all evening.

2) Kevin Durant finished with 25 points but every time that the Cavaliers seemed to crawl within distance, Durant would make a huge shot to keep things in line for Brooklyn.

I wrote in the preview that Cleveland's chances to win were dependent on a few factors but one was don't allow Irving and Durant to score between seventy and eighty points.

They combined for sixty-nine.

3) Brooklyn outrebounded Cleveland by just three (43-40) and each team grabbed ten offensive rebounds but it seemed like the big rebounds that Cleveland needed to grab to turn the game just a little more all fell into the hands of the Nets.

4) Lauri Markkanen finished with thirteen points but only four rebounds and just as in the above note about rebounding, it seemed like every time that Markkanen touched a rebound that it deflected off his hands and usually to Brooklyn.

5) Caris LeVert just continues to struggle to fit in the offense.

LeVert finished with twelve points but did it in forty minutes and hit only four of twelve shots.

LeVert seems to struggle without the ball in his hands and yet he isn't a knockdown shooter that could benefit from Darius Garland (or anyone else) driving to the basket and dishing to the wide-open shooter.

Maybe a training camp with the team will help with the chemistry but right now (on the overall) I'm disappointed with what the Cavaliers received in the trade that brought LeVert to Cleveland.

6) Darius Garland is a lead dog and I say that with respect.

Garland knows what needs to happen in a game against a superior team and he isn't afraid to put the load on the back.

I worry that as time goes on Garland could fall into the clear the floor and let me handle it trap but for now, I love the attitude.

7) If the Cavaliers lose Friday night, they will go into the lottery and keep the first-round pick that would go to Indiana as part of the Caris LeVert trade.

If Cleveland wins, the pick will go to the Pacers. 

Cavaliers at Nets- Play-In Night.

  The Barclays Center in Brooklyn is the scene for the return of the Cleveland Cavaliers to postseason play, even if the play-in series is technically not postseason play by the official NBA guidelines.

The Cavaliers are heavy underdogs to win the "7-8" game against the Brooklyn Nets for a few reasons that range from little playoff experience except for Kevin Love and Rajon Rondo, the continued absence of Jarrett Allen in the middle, the injury problems, and the biggest- Cleveland doesn't have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on their side.

In addition, despite both teams finishing with a 44-38 record, it is the Nets that are playing their best basketball and the Cavaliers are staggering down the stretch like a two-year-old colt that is running their first race at a mile.

The absence of Jarrett Allen forces Evan Mobley to battle down low against former Cavalier Andre Drummond, rather than use his unique physical dimensions to defend Kevin Durant and give Durant a different look defensively than he is used to seeing.

While Kyrie Irving brings his own skills, Cleveland is able to counter with Darius Garland at the point and the issues with guarding Durant in the void created by the unavailability of Jarrett Allen appeared in the Cavaliers' loss in Brooklyn last week where Cleveland held a five-point lead after three quarters, only to see Durant take command of the game and the Nets ran away to an eleven point win.

Cleveland should be hosting this game had they not played an awful game in losing to an Orlando team headed to the lottery and I'm not sure even home court would have been enough to have lifted the Cavaliers past a Brooklyn team that is better than their record.

Instead, Cleveland travels to Brooklyn and assuming they lose as an eight-point underdog will host the winner of the Hawks-Hornets game on Friday night that will decide the final team to reach the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

You would have to be a super homer to pick the Cavaliers in this one but if it happens this is how.

The Cavaliers don't stop Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving but they don't allow them to score seventy to eight points between the two of them, they do a better job on the boards than in last week's game, and someone steps up with a game well beyond their usual output such as Lauri Markkannen or Kevin Love and then Cleveland could surprise the Nets.

Still, the Cavaliers need to play well, even with a loss.

There is something to be said for momentum Friday for a home game after a good effort on the road against a strong team and conversely, a blowout loss could place the brakes on momentum going into a game against the winner of the other game.

I'm interested to see what happens in Brooklyn.

Cavaliers drop in playing seeding-Lose in Brooklyn

    The Cleveland Cavaliers showed much more heart and spirit in Brooklyn than they did in losing to Orlando Tuesday night but it wasn't enough as the Brooklyn Nets dominated the final quarter and dropped the Cavaliers a spot in the playoff seeding with a 118-107 Nets win.

 Cleveland trailed by as many as seventeen points in the first half but rallied to lead by the end of the third quarter before Brooklyn outscored the Cavaliers by sixteen points in the final quarter.

Darius Garland led Cleveland with 31 points while Lauri Markkanen and the returning Evan Mobley each scored seventeen.

Cleveland will finish the season Sunday afternoon at home against Milwaukee in a game that could determine their position in eighth or ninth place for the play-in series.

Swashbucklers

1) After a very disappointing effort in Orlando, the Cavaliers showed the heart and courage to battle back against a team with superior firepower.

I just have a feeling that had the Cavaliers played like this in Orlando, they would have escaped with a win and helped themselves in the seeding race.

2) Evan Mobley played well in his return with seventeen points, seven rebounds, and three assists and didn't seem to have missed a beat.

If the Cavaliers have any chance of getting out of the play-in series, Mobley is going to have to come up big.

3) Darius Garland charged the basket with abandon with many of his 31 points coming on drives down the middle or along the baseline with one acrobatic score that is sure to be part of the week's highlight packages.

Garland has almost single-handedly kept this team afloat down the stretch-get ready to pay the man, Koby Altman!

4) Even with the lead after three, I didn't feel good about the win because Brooklyn still had Kevin Durant, who took the game over in the final quarter as part of his game-high 36 points.

Cleveland has a talented young team but they still have no answer for a player like Durant in the clutch.

5) Cleveland slipped from seventh to eighth, which means this for now- if the season ended today the Cavaliers would travel to Brooklyn for the 7-8 game.

Entering the evening, it was the other way around.

Cleveland's game against Milwaukee on Sunday will tell the tale. A win and a Brooklyn loss would lift them to seventh.

A win would keep eighth, although a Hawks and Hornets loss would do the same.

The Hawks own the tiebreaker over Cleveland, so a Cleveland loss and an Atlanta win could drop them to ninth place. 

Cavaliers nip Nets 114-107

 Darius Garland scored 22 points to pair with twelve assists to lead six Cavaliers in double figures as the Cavaliers dumped the visiting Brooklyn Nets 114-107 on MLK Monday.

Isaac Okoro scored fifteen points to lead the remaining Cavaliers, who travel to Chicago for a meeting tonight against the Bulls.

I started this and forgot about it, so I am finishing it late to order to add to the archives.

Swashbucklings

1) There was a certain feeling of the Cavaliers finally slamming a past door behind them as Darius Garland representing the future of the franchise facing Kyrie Irving, the man who more than anyone represents the duality of the franchise.

2) Irving finished with 27 points and nine assists and played well in a season (four games thus far) that he is only allowed to play in road games in certain cities due to his refusal to take the Covid-10 vaccine.

Irving will always be a polarizing figure to me as I appreciate the role he played in the only Cavaliers title and hitting the shot that nailed down game seven against Golden State.

3) However, I also blame Irving (yes, even more than LeBron James) for the rotten basketball that has been played since James left (Irving forced his trade before the final James season in Cleveland) and Irving started that ball rolling.

Irving forcing the Cavaliers to make a bad trade ( with Boston bringing Isaiah Thomas, Jade Crowder, and a New Jersey number one that was used to draft Collin Sexton), leaving the Cavaliers undermanned for the final battle with the Golden State Warriors, and hurt the Cavaliers case to keep James.

4) But it was the play of Garland, who each time that Brooklyn made a big move had an answer for the Nets.

Garland's play with controlled abandon (which I realize makes little sense)  saw him take almost every big shot down the stretch and outscored Irving eight to four in the final period.

5) I didn't see James Harden play in day-to-day action as much with his career taking place in the Western Conference until his trade to Brooklyn last season so some of his acting routine did take part off Flatbush but boy does the flopping routine get old.

Harden fell like he was hit by a rifle by Jarrett Allen on a three-point shot when replays showed that Allen never touched Harden, who was rewarded with three free throws.

6) Isaac Okoro returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench previously after his elbow injury kept him off the floor for a few weeks with the injury to Lamar Stevens.

Okoro took on Irving defensively in the fourth quarter and held him to two of seven shooting including a possession in the final two minutes where Okoro was so stuck to Irving that after several attempts to shake the second-year man, Irving was forced to dish the ball off.

Okoro was drafted as an athletic player that had the potential to be a shutdown defender and he is showing signs of maturing into a defender of that level.

Cavaliers cut down Nets again!

  Collin Sexton scored 25 points, Jarrett Allen scored 19 points in 19 minutes. and Andre Drummond and Larry Nance Jr. each posted double-doubles as the Cleveland Cavaliers moved above .500 with a 125-113 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Rocket Fieldhouse.

The win gives Cleveland a surprising two-game sweep of the two games against the Nets and pushed the Cavaliers into third place in the Central Division.

Cleveland improves to 8-7 on the season with their next game against the Celtics in Boston Sunday night.

Swashbucklings

1) The Brooklyn Nets entered these two games in Cleveland, with tons of hype about the new "Big Three" and they left town with questions, and watchers were impressed by the surprising Cavaliers with their effort and their team play.

2) Kevin Durant didn't play for the Nets and that likely was the difference between the double-overtime game in the first of the two games and the twelve-point loss in the latter game.

Brooklyn is holding Durant's playing time down as he rebounds from the Achilles injury that caused him to miss last season and with  Durant playing fifty minutes in the double-overtime game, it made sense for the Nets to give Durant the evening off.

3) The difference in this game was the third quarter when the Cavaliers moved a one-point halftime lead to a fourteen-point margin starting the fourth.

J.B. Bickerstaff's preaching of a team-first, move the ball and keep scrambling system of play simply rubbed Brooklyn into submission.

Imagine in a geological fashion- rocks change their shape due to two things, constant pressure and the never-ending passing of time.

That's how the Cavaliers are winning some of these games- pressure and time.

4) Dylan Windler returned to the lineup after breaking his hand in the Cavaliers opener.

Windler missed all of last season due to injury and broke his hand in game one.

Windler hit both of his shots, each from three-point distance to finish with six points in sixteen minutes of floor time.

5) Jarrett Allen scored nineteen points in nineteen minutes off the bench and had several impressive dunks.

The most impressive was when Allen took a pass from Collin Sexton, took a step toward the basketball, and with one hand slammed the ball into the hoop over former Cavalier Joe Harris.

I think Allen is going to get even better as his familiarity with the team grows and his team may look back at his acquisition as being one of the better trades in team history.

Super Sexton cuts the Nets- Cavaliers win in Double OT!

   It was advertised as the debut of the new "Big Three" for the Brooklyn Nets.

It ended with a stunning Cleveland Cavaliers win in double overtime behind Collin Sexton's 42 points as Sexton scored twenty consecutive points for Cleveland covering the first and second overtime in their 147-135 victory.

The Nets stars put their points up on the board, but the Cavaliers rallied in the first overtime from a three-point deficit with both eighteen and twenty-three seconds remaining and tied to the game on a three-pointer by Sexton with 1.2 seconds left to force a second version, where it was all Cleveland and all Collin Sexton.

Sexton's 42 led Cleveland with Cedi Osman contributing 25 more. 

J.B. Bickerstaff used only eight players for Cleveland in the game and seven of the eight reached double-figures in points with the eighth- Isaac Okoro finishing with eight points.

Cleveland has evened their record to a surprising 7-7 and will face this same Nets team on Friday at Rocket Field House.

Swashbucklings

1)  Just wow.

Collin Sexton put this team on his shoulders and drilled shot after shot to keep the Cavaliers in a game that could have easily gotten away.

I'm still not ready to say that Collin Sexton is a number one player for a rebuilding franchise, but his game has advanced this season and he's getting closer and closer to considering him for that status.

2) What is the advancement in Sexton's game?

The improvement in the outside shot for Sexton has added an extra dimension to his game.

Sexton has always been able to beat his man off the dribble, but his outside shot had been inconsistent.

Sexton still will have his evenings where nothing falls, but this season Sexton has established himself credible enough that opponents will have to step out and contest his shot- which makes his drives to the basket even more effective.

3) The two newest Cavaliers each played over thirty and while Jarrett Allen played and gave the Cavaliers what they hoped for (12 points and 11 rebounds), the surprise was Taurean Prince, who scored 17 points and hit three three-pointers, one of those a key basket in overtime.

Prince had a lot of questions after being acquired by Cleveland, but if he's able to play closer to his time with the Hawks and less than his tenure in Brooklyn, Prince could help this team.

4) Cedi Osman played the most of anyone in the victory-fifty minutes and his twenty-five points came with nine of seventeen shooting, four of those from three-point range.

Osman can be inconsistent, but his effort is always there and I still have the feeling that there is some growth that still could come along.

Osman is only 25 and this season he's averaging fourteen points with four rebounds and assists each.

Even if this is the best that Osman ever plays, that's a pretty handy role player at least.

5) The future seems pretty clear from the first night with Jarrett Allen as a Cavalier.

Allen didn't supplant Andre Drummond at center as the starter, but Allen played more minutes (31 to 26)  and in crunch time, it was Allen on the floor, not Drummond.

6) JaVale McGee was a DNP and I would imagine trade offers will be heating up soon.

If the minutes aren't completely there for Allen and Drummond, they definitely aren't there for adding McGee to the mix.

7) I'm not a fan of the Cavaliers "City" uniforms anyway this season, but with their colors being black and white- it's not easy to keep things straight in games like tonight.

Brooklyn's colors are black and white and I had difficulties at times telling which team is which.

Hopefully, Cleveland will wear a different uniform for the rematch on Friday.

8) Kyrie Irving finished with 37 points in his return, Kevin Durant dropped 38 and James Harden popped in 21, but the Nets defense was awful and I still wonder if three guys that all seem to need the basketball can co-exist on the court.

Last night was only their first game together, but I'm not sure if this wins in the playoffs.

The Nets are going to have their nights where they just blow teams out of the arena but against good and better-rounded teams?

I'll say the jury is out.

Cavaliers enter James Harden trade, land Jarrett Allen

      The Cleveland Cavaliers often have a way of working their way into trades that you wouldn't expect them to be involved with and once again, the Cavaliers managed to wiggle their way into a major deal as Cleveland traded away injured guard Dante Exum and the first-round pick in 2022 that the Cavaliers acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cavaliers 2024 second-rounder to the Brooklyn Nets.

Coming to Cleveland will be center Jarrett Allen and forward Taurean Prince, both coming from the Nets.

The 22-year-old Allen is the prize of the deal as the 6'11 center is a consistent young big man that has averaged around eleven points and ten rebounds in the previous two seasons and thus far this season.

Allen shot 65 percent last season and is shooting 67 percent this season from the floor.

Allen also averages a block and a half a game and gives the Cavaliers a rim protector on defense that is different from what Andre Drummond brings.

Drummond is a physical banger that blocks shots with anticipation, while Allen is more of an athletic center that gets off the floor higher and faster.

Allen doesn't quite have the offensive game that Drummond has but at 22 is still capable of growth as a player so don't rule that out.

So in a nutshell, Allen's not quite at the level of Drummond right now, but he could post similar numbers eventually.

The problem with Allen is that he is a restricted free agent and while the Cavaliers will be capable of matching any offer, Cleveland may have other franchises bidding up the cost of keeping Allen in the fold.

Allen seems to fit with the Cavaliers young core and his arrival makes it very likely that the team will try to move Andre Drummond by the trade deadline in order to get something back for the soon-to-be free agent big man.

Javale McGee could be the first to leave though as McGee's early-season play has boosted his trade value to a contender looking for a big man to play fifteen minutes a night. 

I would imagine that the Cavaliers are shopping McGee already because even as injury-strapped as the Cavaliers are right now, the minutes for three centers (Drummond missed the loss to the Jazz with a sore Achilles) aren't there for all three to receive the playing time that they need.

Taurean Prince is a small forward that was selected by the Jazz (and quickly traded to the Hawks) with the 12th overall pick in 2016 out of Baylor.

Prince is a 6'7 tweener that can play either forward but is better offensively at the small forward position that he played in Atlanta.

The Nets tried to use him more at the four and his numbers dropped off in every category and only shot 37 percent from the floor with Brooklyn last season.

Brooklyn cut Prince's floortime further this season from 29 minutes last season to 18 in 2020-21 and some of this may be due to his less than average defense, so Prince will have to either improve or be covered for on the defensive end.

Second unit players are a little easier to help. so Prince will likely play more with the reserves rather than the starters.

Brooklyn signed Prince to a two-year contract for 12.2 million this year and 13 for next season, which seems to be a large overpay for a guy playing less than twenty minutes a night.

Prince will be given a chance to earn more playing time with the Cavaliers and could increase his value for a team looking to clear salary-cap space for next season.

Prince isn't a bad player, but he's a player with raw skills that hasn't progressed as a player, but he's still only 26 and it's not too late for him to develop, but for now, Prince is a player that is good in the open floor, has trouble dropping his shot and is below-average defensively at an above-average cost.

To make space for Allen and Prince, the Cavaliers released center Thon Maker and recently signed guard Yogi Ferrell.

Maker averaged 3.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in eight games for Cleveland, and I liked what I saw from him in his limited chances.

Sadly, even at 23, Maker might be a player that isn't given the chance to develop his skills and is caught in limbo- too strong for the G-League, not refined enough to play a lot in the NBA.

Farrell signed over the weekend and played in the Cavalier's losses to Memphis and Utah, scoring ten points against the Jazz and nine against the Grizzlies.

I would not be surprised to see the former Sacramento King return to Cleveland in the event of future backcourt injuries.

The New Jersey Devils drop the puck for their opener tonight, if I have time later I may do a preview of a season that should not be to the Devils' advantage.