In the early morning of January 18, Beijing time, the NBA regular season ushered in a focus battle, the Nets challenged the Cavaliers away, before this campaign, the Nets ranked second in the East with 27 wins and 15 losses, and the Cavaliers ranked sixth in the East with 26 wins and 18 losses. The Cavaliers have performed well this season, with a great rise, and after Sexton and Rubio's successive season reimbursements, Garland led the team to continue to move forward, and the prospects are bright. On the Nets side, Durant suffered a ligament sprain in the last game will miss 4-6 weeks, but this game away, Irving can appear, he teamed up with Harden to cut 49 points, 14 rebounds and 19 assists, but the Nets offense in the last quarter was once powered off, the Cavaliers performed well at both ends of the attack and defense at key moments, and the Nets finally regrettably lost the game.
The course of the game
The Nets' starting lineup for this game is Harden, Irving, Mills, Edwards and Sharp, a typical big five-small lineup, the Cavaliers started garland, O'Corro, Markkanen, Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and the inside line is completely dominant.
After the opening, the two sides began a tug-of-war, the score alternately rose, the Nets gradually pulled the score in the middle of the quarter, Irving's three-point shot helped them lead 22-14, but in the rotation stage, the Cavaliers' second team stubbornly chased the points, and ended the first quarter with a 30-31 trail. In the second quarter, after a stalemate between the two sides, the Cavaliers used the advantage of the inside line to play a small climax, and at the end of the half, they overtook the score to a 65-59 lead of six points.
Irving broke out in the quarter, scoring 14 points in a single quarter and leading the Nets to an 88-87 deficit at the end of the third quarter. In the final quarter, the Cavaliers took advantage of Irving's break to reverse the score, but Harden then made two 3-point fouls and 6 free throws to help the Nets chase to 105-105 draw, but Markkanen immediately returned a 3-point counterattack again, the duel between the two sides fell into white heat, but then the Nets continued to attack unsuccessfully, Mobley dunked, Irving counterattacked to chase the score, with 53 seconds left in the game, the Nets fell behind 107-110, Harden then passed the ball error and was countered by the opponent, Trailing by five points at 107-112 in the final 15.8 seconds, Nash suspended the layout, Irving missed a 3-pointer, the Nets could only take foul tactics, but there was not enough time, and in the end, they lost to the Cavaliers 107-114 on the road.
Data comparison
Cavaliers Markkanen cut 14 points and 6 rebounds, Mobley 12 points and 6 rebounds, Allen 14 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks, O'Corro 15 points, Garland 22 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists, and substitute Love cut 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists;
On the Nets side, Mills contributed 11 points, Edwards contributed 11 points and 3 rebounds, Sharp 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, Irving 27 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, Harden 22 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists, and Ader contributed 13 points and 5 rebounds off the bench.
Irving broke out in a single quarter for 14 points to save the Savior
Irving had a mediocre first-half performance, scoring only nine points, but in the third quarter he suddenly exploded, scoring 14 points and 3 assists on 6-of-8 shooting in a single quarter, leading the Nets to a backlash in the unfavorable situation where they were once 9 points behind in the quarter. It was also Irving's threat that finally helped the Nets avoid being taken away by a wave of streams in the third quarter and maintain the suspense of the game to the end, unfortunately, in the last quarter, Irving's off-the-field break, the Nets' offense suffered a power outage, and by the time Irving came on, the momentum was already completely on the side of the Cavaliers.
Harden was in mediocre form, with three consecutive fouls in the final quarter as a bright spot
In this game, Harden's performance can only be described as "average", only 5 of 12 shots in the whole game, the shooting rate is average, and in the game of only two giants, Harden's offensive desire does not look high. Harden scored 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting in the first three quarters and 0-of-2 in the final quarter, but the biggest highlight was that he made two consecutive 3-point fouls outside the 3-point line, hitting 6 free throws to help the Nets tie the score. Unfortunately, there was a fatal mistake at the last moment.
In this kind of glue game, Harden should play his aggression on the offensive end to help the Nets win the game.
The Nets' interior line was blown up
As soon as the starting lineup of this game comes out, it may have been doomed to the Nets' interior line will be broken, the Cavaliers have allen and Mobley's twin towers, and there is a Markkanen who can play the No. 4 position, and the 3-man frontcourt completely crushes the Nets interior line with only single center Sharp. Of course, this has a lot to do with the Nets' staffing, after all, the Cavaliers' interior strength is already very strong.
While the Nets did a good job of rebounding, grabbing 35 rebounds, only five behind their opponents, and the offensive rebounds were 8-8 draws, the Nets' interior score was only 34 points, while the Cavaliers were 54 points. The Cavaliers' attack on the inside was almost a give-and-take, which was one of the big reasons why they were able to win the game in the end.