A lackadaisical start was overcome by a focused second quarter as the Cavaliers marched to a 14th straight home victory at The Q with an 117-92 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night.
Cleveland (44-26) couldn’t have begun the game worse, with five careless turnovers in the first five minutes producing a 13-point deficit, 22-9. The sloppiness was so December, not representative of a team that has an NBA-best record of 25-6 since Jan. 15.
The Cavaliers finally came to their senses and realized that much of what makes them formidable is a defensive identity. With Cleveland cleaning up the fumbles that led to easy baskets, the Nets (27-39) found it problematic to get a bucket.
Brooklyn was only able to score two points in the first five minutes of the second quarter while the Cavaliers built a 14-point lead. After a 34-21 edge in the period provided a 12-point halftime lead, 59-47, Cleveland ran away with the game.
Every Cavalier starter scored 10 or more points, as did reserves Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert (10 each). Matthew Dellavedova had eight points and every Cavalier who played got on the scoresheet.
The Nets must have read the names on the scouting report wrong. That’s the only logical explanation as to why JR Smith saw so many wide-open threes. Perhaps they believed they faced Josh Smith, who is a Smith who can’t shoot.
Smith drained five threes and ended with 17 points. Timofey Mozgov was a bruiser down low as he outscored Brook Lopez, 17-10, on 7-of-8 from the field. LeBron James supplied 16 points and seven assists. Kyrie Irving added 12 points and a game-high 10 assists.
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