Tuesday was the final outing of a monstrous six-game, 11-day road trip. The Cleveland Cavaliers were tired. They were ready to go home. And they seemed to show it sometime in the second quarter when the unsteady bench took the reins, defense evaporated, and Brooklyn surged to a lead it would never surrender in a 114-101 victory in Cleveland’s first trip to Barclays Center.
Not even spectacular performances that included career-highs from both Anderson Varejao (35 points) and Kyrie Irving (34 points) could comfort Scott as he mulled how the Cavaliers fell to 2-6 in dropping their fourth consecutive game. Brooklyn, which had double-digit scoring from five players, improved to 4-2.
The Nets hit 55 percent of their attempts, led by Deron Williams’ 26 points and 10 assists. Joe Johnson (25 points) and Brook Lopez (23 points) weren’t far behind.
“I don’t want to talk about the defense,” said Scott, when asked to describe the Cavaliers’ ability. “There was nothing there defensively. We’ve got to get more guys who are going to be competitive. Right now we’ve really got three — Boobie Gibson, Alonzo Gee and Anderson Varejao. We’ve got to get the other guys to join into the party, simple as that.”
Throughout the Cavaliers’ six-game road trip, opponents hit 52 percent of their shots, and the Nets’ luck was no different Tuesday. Varejao kept the Cavaliers in the game with a 17-point, seven-rebound first quarter, but Brooklyn pulled ahead in the second quarter thanks to a 35-12 run that included 61.9 percent shooting.
It was, in essence, when the Cavaliers began their trip home to Cleveland. Scott said he purposely didn’t mention to his young team that the Brooklyn game was the final contest of the long road trip.
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