Evan Mobley collected 23 points and 16 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers, who trailed by 13 early in the fourth quarter, extended their season-opening winning streak to 11 games with a 105-100 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night.
Cleveland became the first team to open a season 11-0 since the Golden State Warriors won their first 24 games in 2015-16 en route to a 73-9 finish. The Cavaliers earned their fifth single-digit victory of the campaign on Saturday, facing their stiffest challenge to date after blowing a 15-point, first-half lead.
Donovan Mitchell added 22 points and Darius Garland contributed 20, and Cleveland outscored the Nets 35-18 in the fourth quarter and scored 26 of its 56 points in the paint in the final period. The Cavaliers shot 54.1 percent from the field for the game and made 14 of 18 shots (77.8 percent) in the final 12 minutes.
Dennis Schroder hit a triple to put Brooklyn up 85-72 just 46 seconds into the fourth quarter before Cleveland put together its ferocious rally.
Cameron Johnson had 23 points while Schroder and Cam Thomas added 22 apiece for the Nets, who took the Boston Celtics to overtime on Friday.
Brooklyn held a 96-89 lead with 4:24 left in the game following a 3 by Johnson, but the Cavaliers outscored the Nets 16-4 the rest of the way.
The Cavaliers took their first lead since early in the third quarter on two Garland free throws with 2:31 left in the fourth and later answered two free throws by Schroder with a tough runner by Garland in the lane with 84 seconds remaining, making it 101-98 Cleveland.
After Thomas sank an 11-footer with 65 seconds to go, Cleveland’s Ty Jerome hit a short jumper with 46.2 seconds left and Schroder missed a contested 3 with 29.8 seconds remaining. Mitchell hit two free throws to seal the win.
Cleveland took a 52-37 lead on Garland’s 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining in the second quarter, but the Nets ended the first half with an 18-5 run to get within 57-55. Brooklyn scored the first 15 points of the third quarter to build a 70-57 cushion.
Mitchell hit four threes and scored 15 points in the first quarter to lift Cleveland to a 34-28 lead by the end of the frame. The Cavaliers went 12-for-16 from the floor in the stanza.
–Field Level Media
