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0 On Thursday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers secured their eighth consecutive victory and 16th win in 17 games by defeating the Brooklyn Nets 118-95. Despite the absence of some of their key players, the Nets put up a good fight, but ultimately couldn’t keep up with the Cavaliers. Donovan Mitchell was the star of the game, scoring 27 points and leading his team to victory. Evan Mobley put up impressive numbers as well, with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland each contributed 14 points.
Cleveland maintained a solid 53% shooting average throughout the game and outrebounded the Nets 45-33. They also assisted on 25 of their 41 made baskets. The game was the second of a back-to-back for the Cavaliers, who had won against the Washington Wizards the previous night.
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff was pleased with his team’s performance and emphasized the importance of having fun while competing. He said, “You have fun because of the results, and you can enjoy it because of the results and what our message to the guys is. You can have fun in the competition, you can have fun supporting one another, pulling for one another, doing the gritty, dirty things, sharing the ball.”
Mikal Bridges led the Nets with 26 points, while Cam Thomas added 17. However, it wasn’t enough to secure a win for Brooklyn, who have now lost three games in a row. The Nets have been struggling lately, and the loss to the Cavaliers was their third against Cleveland this season.
After the game, Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn spoke about the team’s performance and noted that Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell was the key to their victory. He said, “It started pretty early for them again. Just like in Paris, Mitchell started off aggressive and really got it going early, kind of set the tone, was able to do that again tonight.”
The Nets were active on trade deadline day, making several moves to strengthen their roster. They traded Spencer Dinwiddie to Toronto for Dennis Schroder and Thaddeus Young, and sent Royce O’Neale to Phoenix for Keita Bates-Diop, Jordan Goodwin, and two second-round picks. The Nets also acquired the rights to Vanja Marinkovic from Memphis.
In the second half of the game, tensions ran high when Brooklyn’s Ben Simmons shoved Jarrett Allen to the floor. Allen responded by charging past Donovan Mitchell and pushing Simmons back, and both players received technical fouls. The Cavaliers responded with an impressive 21-0 run, holding the Nets to 0-for-9 shooting and forcing two turnovers. Allen capped off the run with a hook shot that made it 80-51. After the game, Allen explained his actions, saying, “It was just the moment. It’s a day-by-day type of thing. I’m just a guy that tries to stay even keeled, but when buttons are pushed there is a retaliation.”
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