Cavaliers hold off Nets 125-121
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers opened the home portion of their 2026-27 season on Saturday night, hosting the Brooklyn Nets.
The Cavs were trying to move on from an opening night total embarrassment when they blew a 29 point lead in Philadelphia in the 114-106 disaster. The Cavs became the first team in NBA history to lose on opening night when leading by 29 points, the previous 65 teams were 65-0. Saturday did not look much better, but the Cavs did come away with a 125-121 win, but it wasn’t easy.
The first quarter was close early as the Cavs led 15-14 with 6:52 left in the opening quarter when Evan Mobley drained a three off a pass from James Harden. By the 5:20 mark the Cavs were trailing 19-17 and then 21-17 with 5:00 left in the opening quarter. With 3:00 remaining the Cavs tied the game 24-24 when Donovan Mitchell scored in the paint. The Cavs finally took a 32-30 lead with :32.1 left on the first quarter clock when Jaylon Tyson drained a three. As time ran out in the quarter one of the Cavaliers’ new additions Mario Hezonja drained a three from the corner to give the Cavs a 35-30 lead after 12 minutes. Jarrett Allen and Mobley led all scorers with eight points each after one. Michael Porter, Jr. led the Nets with seven points. The Nets had a slight edge on the boards in the opening quarter 15-14.
The Cavs scored the first five points of the second quarter to take their first double digit lead of the game with 1:25 gone. With 6:35 left in the half the Nets cut the Cleveland lead to 45-41. Then Nets cut the lead to one point when with 5:45 former Cav Keon Ellis drained a three after a turnover by Harden. The Cavs lead ballooned to 12 and then 14 with 2:24 left when Tyrese Proctor scored in the paint courtesy of an assist from Harden. When the halftime buzzer rang the Cavs led 68-54. It wasn’t exactly a 29 point lead, but somehow, it felt safer. That feeling didn’t last long though. Mobley, Allen and Porter, Jr led all scorers with 13 points apiece in the first half. Brooklyn still had a slight edge on the board 24-23. Both teams turned the ball over 11 times in a sloppy first half. The Cavs scored 14 off Brooklyn mistakes, the Nets capitalized with nine points.
The Cavs lead increased to 18 points in the early minutes of the third quarter. After the Nets went on a little run the Cavs built the lead back to 18 with 7:28 left when Mitchell hit a three courtesy of a pass from Mobley. The Cavs took their largest lead of the game to that point 83-64 when Sam Merrill hit a three with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter. As time ran out in the third quarter the Cavs led 96-80. Porter, jr. led all scorers with 20 points. Mitchell was pacing the Cavs with 18, Allen had 17. The Cavs finally overtook the Nets on the board leading the battle 37-36. The Cavs had nine assists in the third quarter they had 14 in the first two quarters.
With 10:14 left in the game the Cavs took a 21 point lead 101-80. Then with 9:27 left the lead grew to 22 when Tyson drained a three giving the Cavs 1 104-82 lead. Even with a large lead the Cavs continued to look sloppy with 8:18 left in the contest they had turned the ball over 17 times. Things got a little tense with 7:08 remaining in the game when Brooklyn’s Egor Demin drained a three and the Cleveland lead was just 11 points. Embattled Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson took a time out. With 6:54 remaining Brooklyn’s Day’Ron Sharpe committed his second flagrant foul of the game and was ejected. Harden hit two of three free throws to give the Cavs a 110-97 lead. The Nets would not go away with 3:30 left Porter, Jr. hit another three and the Cavs lead was 10 points. With :32.0 left the Nets cut the lead to 120-116 and then the Cavs turned the ball over with :26.4 left on the clock. Peyton Watson picked up his sixth foul. After the Nets got the ball back the Cavs got lucky when on the inbound pass Noah Clowney made a bad pass and threw it out of bounds. The Nets challenged the call, it was not challengeable after a three- or four-minute delay. The Nets pulled to with two points with :07.9 left when Porter, Jr. hit a three. Porter, Jr., who apparently had no idea he had five fouls and raised his hand and grabbed his head in disbelief when he picked up his sixth. He exited the game with a game high 28 points. The Cavs held on for a 125-121 win.
Porter led all scorers with the aforementioned 28 points. Mitchell led the Cavs with 22, Mobley had 20.
The game was to say the least sloppy as the Cavs turned it over 23 times resulting in 19 Nets points. The Nets had 20 miscues resulting in 23 Cavs points which was the difference in the game. The Nets outrebounded the Cavs 48-45. The Cavs shot 51% (40 of 79) while the Nets shot 40% (39 of 97) from the field.
The Cavs will be back in action on Monday night when they host one of the top teams in the Western Conference in the Minnesota Timberwolves (2-0) at 7 pm. It will be the second night of a back-to-back for the T-Wolves as they host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night..
POSTED 10/24/2026 22:48
Lake County Sentinel
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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Peyton Watson shoots a three point basket in the Cavs 125-121 win over the Brooklyn Nets Saturday night at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tim Shirer
