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Cleveland Cavs celebrate comeback win against Brooklyn Nets, improving to 11-0

CLEVELAND – The Cavaliers used a late rally to beat the Brooklyn Nets 105-100, and Cleveland maintained its perfect record this season on the second night of a Kenny Atkinson back-to-back winning streak.

The Cavs improved to 11-0 with a home win against the Nets (4-6) on Saturday. The Cavs became the 12th team in NBA history to start the season 11-0. Atkinson, coach of the New Cavs, spent more than three regular seasons at the helm of the Nets before spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors. On Friday night, the Cavs scored 83 points in the first half and defeated the Warriors 136-117.

The tip-off occurred at 7:40 p.m. Saturday in downtown Cleveland. Here you will find our updates during the game.

After trailing by seven points and calling a timeout with 4:23 to play, the Cavs went on a 10-0 run with help from point guard Darius Garland. His two successful foul throws gave the Cavs a 97-96 lead with 2:31 left in the fourth quarter. The Cavs never trailed again. A Garland assist to forward Evan Mobley led to a dunk and a 99-96 lead with 1:52 left.

Successful floaters from Garland and backup point guard Ty Jerome allowed the Cavs to beat the Nets 1:24 and . There are 46.2 seconds left in each case. Guard Donovan Mitchell picked up two fouls in 15.6 seconds to give the Cavs a 105-100 lead. This left them the only undefeated team in the league this season.

The Cavs finished the game with a 26:11 run.

Garland and guard Caris LeVert each scored eight points for the Cavs in the fourth quarter. Garland finished the game with 20 points and six assists. LeVert added 12 points.

Mobley led the Cavs with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Mitchell scored 22 points.

The Cavaliers trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, marking their second-largest come-from-behind win this season.

Forward Cam Johnson's 3-pointer gave the Nets a 96-89 lead with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter. The Cavs were trailing by the same amount when they called a timeout a second later.

The Cavs trailed by just four points after forward Georges Niang turned an assist from guard Sam Merrill into a layup with 6:36 left in the fourth quarter. The Nets responded with a basket, but followed with a 24-second shot clock violation. The Cavs trailed by just two points when LeVert dunked with 5:31 to play after a steal from Jerome and an assist from guard Darius Garland.

But the Nets kept firing and scored the next five points.

The Cavs started the fourth quarter with a 9-3 run, but the Nets fired back to increase their lead to 89-79.

Then Mobley made a hook shot after an assist from guard Caris LeVert, and LeVert made a fast-break layup after a steal and assist from point guard Ty Jerome. With that sequence, the Cavs cut the Nets' lead to 89-83 with 7:46 left in the fourth quarter.

The Cavs need to rally to remain undefeated this season. They trail the Nets 82-70 at the end of the third quarter after being outscored 27-13 in the quarter.

Two Nets players, forward Cam Johnson (10 points) and guard Cam Thomas (nine points), combined for 19 points in the third quarter. Again, the Cavs only scored 13 points as a team in the third quarter.

The Nets led 77-68 during a replay with 3:07 left in the third quarter.

After being held scoreless in the first half, center Jarrett Allen made two foul shots and a layup to give the Cavs a spark as they cut their deficit to seven points with four minutes left in the third quarter.

The Nets had extended their lead to 13 points with 5:29 left in the third quarter.

The Cavs fell behind 59-57 when Thomas made two foul shots with 11:06 left in the third quarter after receiving a foul from point guard Darius Garland. It was Cleveland's first deficit since the start of the first quarter.

The Nets also continued. The Cavs called a timeout with 9:13 left in the third quarter after the Nets started the second half with a 12-0 run. Guard Dennis Schroder gave the Nets a 67-57 lead with a 3-pointer, prompting Atkinson to use the timeout. Thomas extended Brooklyn's run to 15-0 when he hit a 3-pointer with 7:43 left in the third quarter.

The Cavs hadn't trailed since 10:09 minutes into the first quarter.

The Cavs led the Nets 57-55 at halftime after Brooklyn rallied and ended the second quarter with an 18-5 run.

The Nets trailed by 15 points before using a 12-0 run to cut their deficit to 52-49 with 2:26 left in the first half.

Mitchell led the Cavs with 17 first-half points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field (4-of-5 3-pointers). Mobley had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in two quarters. Point guard Darius Garland added 10 points.

Guard Dennis Schroder led the Nets with 14 points in the first half. Johnson added 10 points for Brooklyn.

The Cavs made 21 of 38 shots (55.3%) from the floor (9 of 20 on 3-pointers). The Nets made 17 of 38 shots (44.7%) from the field (8 of 24 on 3-pointers).

Points from turnovers give the Cavs a boost and crush the Nets.

The Cavs extended their lead to 52-37 with 6:28 left in the second quarter after LeVert turned a Nets turnover into a breakaway dunk and Garland scored on a 3-point conversion after another Brooklyn turnover. LeVert and Jerome had steals on those plays.

At that point, the Cavs had scored 12 points off the Nets' seven turnovers. Conversely, the Nets had five fewer points than the Cavs' seven turnovers.

The Cavs had a 47-37 lead over the Nets with 7:11 left in the second quarter. The Nets called a timeout after Mobley scored in the paint following an assist from LeVert, a former Brooklyn player. Mobley already has 11 points and seven rebounds. The Cavs outscore the Nets 20-12.

Mitchell led the Cavs in that phase of the game with 17 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field (4 of 4 on 3-pointers).

The Cavs led the Nets 34-28 at the end of the first quarter, which at times felt sloppy, as if two teams were playing for the second night in a row.

Mitchell led the Cavs in the first quarter with 15 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the floor (4 of 4 on 3-pointers).

Forwards Dorian Finney-Smith and Schroder led the Nets with eight points each through the quarter.

The Cavs began the game by shooting 10 of 13 (76.9%) from the floor, including 5 of 7 on 3-pointers. This gave them a 26:20 lead with 4:09 minutes left in the first quarter.

At this point, the Nets are shooting 6 of 11 from the field (3 of 6 on 3-pointers).

The Cavaliers led the Nets 17-15 during a Cleveland timeout with 6:17 left in the first quarter.

Mitchell made his first three 3-point attempts to help the Cavs gain an early advantage.

Here's some pre-game information:

What was Kenny Atkinson's record as Nets coach?

Atkinson went 118-190 as coach of the Nets from 2016 to 2020. He led the Nets to the playoffs in 2018-19 and they fell 4-1 to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. He then spent one season with the Los Angeles Clippers on Ty Lue's team and three seasons on Steve Kerr's team at Golden State, helping the Warriors win the 2022 NBA title.

According to NBA history, what does the Cleveland Cavs' hot start mean for the 2024-25 season?

Before this year, Cleveland's record for best start to a season was 8-0 for the 1976-77 team.

At 10-0 to start this season, the Cavs not only rewrote franchise history, but also entered a rare category in recent NBA annals. Only three other teams since the 2000-01 season have started 10-0 or better. They are the 2015-16 Warriors (NBA record 24-0), the 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks (14-0) and the 2000-01 76ers (10-0).

Cavs get record win on Friday: The Golden State Warriors face the Cleveland Cavaliers with a familiar plan

How did these teams finish these seasons? None of them won the NBA title, but all made good playoff runs. The Warriors and Sixers lost in the NBA Finals and the Mavericks lost in the Western Conference Finals.

Of course, this season is still extremely young, so it would be foolish to jump to conclusions. On the other hand, if history is any indication, the Cavs at least seem capable of building on last season's 4-1 loss to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

More on the Cavs' 10-0 result: The Cleveland Cavaliers score 83 points in a dominant first half, setting records against the Golden State Warriors

What is the injury report for Cleveland Cavs and Brooklyn Nets?

The Nets, who lost 108-104 to the Celtics in overtime on Friday night, have ruled out the following players for their meeting with the Cavs: Bojan Bogdanovic (recovering from a left foot injury), Day'Ron Sharpe (left hamstring strain ) and Ben Simmons (lower back injury treatment) and Trendon Watford (left hamstring strain).

The Cavs continued to rule out Max Strus (sprained right ankle). Strus suffered the injury before the start of the season and is expected to miss at least another month.

How do I watch, listen and stream the Cavs vs. Nets game?

Saturday night's game can be watched locally on FanDuel Sports Network and nationally on NBA TV. It can be heard on the radio on WMMS (100.7-FM) and WTAM (1100-AM).

Nate Ulrich can be reached at [email protected]. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

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