Cavaliers looking to maintain mastery over lowly Nets

Due to injuries, James Harden and Donovan Mitchell were bystanders on the bench as the Cleveland Cavaliers collapsed late against the best team in the Eastern Conference on Friday night.

Less than 48 hours later, the Cavaliers may be missing their star backcourt duo again when they visit one of the league's worst teams on Sunday afternoon.

The Cavaliers were one game over .500 following a 117-100 loss at Houston on Dec. 27. Since then they are 20-8 in their past 28 games, though they are on their first slump in two months with three losses in four games.

After losing by a combined 10 points to the Oklahoma City Thunder last Sunday and Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, Cleveland lost a nine-point lead in the final 2:44 of regulation and took a 122-119 overtime setback to the Detroit Pistons on Friday.

"There's no moral victories," Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. "This is a big game. We had chances. Just kind of kicking ourselves."

Harden sat out with a fractured thumb for the second game and Mitchell was held out for the second straight night with a groin injury. While Mitchell is day-to-day, Harden was still feeling discomfort at the shootaround Friday and was sporting a protective brace on the thumb.

The Cavaliers won six of seven with Harden in the lineup and the guard would like to play through the injury if possible, though it is possible he sits out again Sunday ahead of a rematch with the Pistons on Tuesday.

Sam Merrill and Dennis Schroder comprised Cleveland's starting backcourt Friday and produced mixed results. Merrill scored 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting while Schroder totaled 12 of 4-of-15 shooting and nine assists.

Without Mitchell and Harden again, Cleveland likely will rely on its frontcourt duo of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The duo combined for 48 points, 21 rebounds and five blocked shots Friday.

"I think we did fight with the guys that we had," Allen said. "I think down the stretch, just the mistakes didn't lead us to where we wanted to. When we get the guys that are our premier players, then things will be different."

Besides Mitchell and Harden, the Cavaliers also were missing Dean Wade and Keon Ellis. Wade sat out with a sprained ankle and was replaced in the starting lineup by Jaylon Tyson while Ellis sat out with a fractured index finger.

Cleveland earned a 131-124 win in Brooklyn on Oct. 24 and cruised to a 112-84 rout on Feb. 19. The Cavaliers are 11-1 in the past 12 meetings with the Nets, who matched a season worst with their seventh straight loss on Friday when they took a 148-111 loss to the host Boston Celtics.

It was Brooklyn's fifth double-digit loss of this skid, and the Nets allowed 66.7% shooting. The Nets allowed their most points in a since a 153-121 loss at Sacramento on Nov. 15, 2022, and it was their fourth-highest field goal percentage allowed in franchise history.

The Nets allowed the Celtics to hit 22 of 34 3s a night after allowing the San Antonio Spurs to make 17 of 43 attempts from behind the arc in a 126-110 loss. The Nets conceded 10 of those 3s in the second half when they surrendered 82 points after trailing by nine at halftime.

"It was a complete-on quit, when you lose by almost 40 points," coach Jordi Fernandez said after the Nets took their fifth loss by at least 30 points this season and tied a season worst by allowing 22 3s.