The Cleveland Cavaliers will not begin this season with a memorable 15-game winning streak.
Instead, the focus will shift to correcting some of the issues from their unsuccessful season opener. Cleveland’s first chance to improve comes Friday night when they visit the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets.
Cleveland’s first game since a frustrating loss in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers was Wednesday’s 119-111 loss to the New York Knicks in a matchup many think will be repeated in the Eastern Conference finals.
Cleveland took the loss by falling behind early as it trailed by 11 through the opening quarter and faced a 65-50 deficit by halftime. The Cavs allowed the Knicks to shoot 52.4% in the opening quarter and did not give themselves a chance until coming to life in the third quarter.
Donovan Mitchell finished with 31 points — including 21 in a third-quarter flurry when the Cavs outscored the Knicks 37-22 to forge a tie. Mitchell was 0-for-4 in the fourth quarter when the Cavaliers shot 38.9% and were outscored 32-24 overall and 16-2 in the paint.
The Cavaliers’ inconsistencies were partially caused by the absences of Darius Garland and Max Strus, who are recovering from offseason surgeries. De’Andre Hunter also sat out with a right knee bruise.
Because of those injuries, Jaylon Tyson was in the starting lineup after making three starts as a rookie last season. Sam Merrill also started and scored 19 points after playing 67 of his 71 games off the bench last season.
“I think (we’re) just figuring it out,” Mitchell said. “You’re throwing different rotations and then you have guys, you have young guys, you’ve got old guys and just different things that come with them. That’s why we’re not really hanging our heads on this loss. We have a lot to work on and a lot to build on.”
Cleveland also was outrebounded 48-32 as former Nets center Jarrett Allen was held to four while Evan Mobley finished with eight. Neither big man grabbed an offensive rebound.
The Nets enter their home opener hoping to rebound from a nightmarish showing in a 136-117 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night. Brooklyn allowed 53.3% shooting, gave up 17 3-pointers and surrendered 60 points in the paint.
“We definitely need to have a sense of urgency and figure out our identity,” said Brooklyn center Nic Claxton. “We’ve got to figure that out as a team. It’s the first game; (we) can’t overreact. But at the same time, we saw some glaring problems individually and collectively.”
The Nets had an NBA-record five first-round picks in the June draft and saw mixed results from the four who played (Danny Wolf sat out due to an ankle injury). Egor Demin scored 14 points off the bench, but starting guard Ben Saraf was held to eight while Drake Powell and Nolan Traore received limited minutes.
Brooklyn also added veterans Terance Mann and Michael Porter Jr. and the duo combined for 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting. Claxton led the Nets with 17 points while Cam Thomas added 15 after returning on a one-year qualifying offer last month.
Cleveland is 9-1 in the teams’ past 10 meetings.
