Sports Writing (USA), Mar 23 (EFE).- The Brooklyn Nets cherished a well-deserved victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, but a disastrous last minute was taken advantage of by JB Bickerstaff’s men to come back and turn it around with a Isaac Okoro’s triple that left the final 114-116.
Cleveland hadn’t dominated on the scoreboard since the second quarter and it was a 2-12 closing run, with as many as three takeaways, shorting the Nets.
The strength of the Cavs as a team stood out, but with two proper names, those of Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, with 31 and 26 points respectively. The center also finished with a double-double for his 16 rebounds.
The Spanish Ricky Rubio was fundamental and excelled once again without the need to score points, giving balance to the team from the bench with seven assists, some of them worthy of appearing in the best actions of the night.
Mikal Bridges scored 32 points, it is the eighth time he has exceeded thirty with the Nets. So far with the Suns he had only done it in two games.
There was a very equal start, with Cleveland imposing a much more choral game, sharing the ball, and finding clearer launch options thanks to the ‘extra-pass’.
Mitchell stood out at the start, putting in practically everything except two attempts at three, going up to twelve points in just six minutes, thus closing the fourth.
Bridges took control from the locals, whose game was more individual and had more problems finding the right shot from the outside. After twelve minutes they had only scored one of seven tries. He signed it Royce O’Neale.
With a counter by Dinwiddie that Day’Ron Sharpe finished off, Brooklyn took the lead in the light. The Nets closed out the first quarter winning 33-31 over the Cavaliers.
With Rubio in command, the advantages returned to the Cavs, which reached up to nine points with him on track (40-49).
The points after the second chance gave life to the locals. At halftime, Vaughn’s team added ten points like this, while the Cavs did not finish exploiting their offensive rebound, a single rejection on the opposing basket and no points.
Once again, Brooklyn knew how to play better in the last minutes of the period, with a 12-3 run and the Dinwiddie-Bridges duo as protagonists. The teams went to locker rooms with 61-60 for the Nets.
In the third quarter, Cleveland matched their physicality near the basket and outrebounded their rival for the first time in the entire game (10-15).
Bridges, and his 16 points in this period, were the architects of the Nets never losing control of the game. The maximum at that time was only six goals, in a clash that was already much more physical, with Claxton and Allen as protagonists.
Again Dinwiddie served a spectacular ‘alley-oop’ to Sharpe in the bottom of the fourth. Vaughn’s men faced the last twelve minutes with a 91-85 advantage.
The best version of Ricky Rubio appeared at the start of the last quarter, feeding his teammates with ‘gifts’ that only he can find on a basketball court.
For the best plays of the game will be the alleyup to Mobley almost from the center of the field and an assist chipping the ball through a forest of legs that left Garland alone to put it in at will.
A new takeoff of the Nets came in the light, improving their circulation of the ball and reuniting with the triples. They came to have ten points of advantage.
Mobley acquired more presence and added more points as the minutes went by to help the Cavs have a chance of winning, he went up to eight points and four rebounds in the final stretch, with some actions that showed his tremendous quality.
More than half of the Nets’ points were the twelve that Joe Harris converted from the triple, neither Bridges nor Dinwiddie had the weight that was expected of them at the key moment.
Three takeaways in the last minute, two by LeVert and one by Garland, allowed the Cavs to complete a 2-12 closing run. Mobley firm under the basket, Mitchell reliable in his shots, and Isaac Okoro who received the key ball at the last breath to achieve the final victory in the only shot he made all night.
The Nets had seven tenths left to gamble from the triple in the hands of Bridges, but he did not touch the hoop and the final result was 114-116.
