Nets

Three things to know as Brooklyn and Cleveland clash in Tuesday's 7 vs. 8 East play-in game.

This is all to say that in order to beat Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Nets on Tuesday, they're going to have to score ... a lot. With Garland and LeVert on the court together, however, the Cavs have been dynamic offensively, putting up 118.4 points per 100 possessions. The Cavs were 4-1 this season when Mobley scored 24 or more points, and they may just need that kind of effort from him if they're going to win on Tuesday. The Cavs have to be very careful not to lose control of the game when Garland gets his rest. That's going to start with Garland, a breakout All-Star this season who averaged 21.7 points and 8.6 assists on 46/38/89 shooting splits. Nets coach Steve Nash has never been afraid to play his stars for huge minutes, so you better believe Durant and Irving will be on the court for the majority of Tuesday's matchup. In the 18 games since the big man went down, however, Cleveland had the 22nd-ranked defense in the league, and a 7-11 record to go with it. And if it comes down to the final possessions, Durant is one of the league's best clutch performers who's come through time and time again on the postseason stage. After the James Harden trade, the Nets scored an incredible 123.6 points per 100 possessions with Durant and Irving on the floor. Durant averaged nearly 30 points this season and Irving averaged 27.4. The next-highest scoring average on the team was Seth Curry's 14.7, and he's only played 19 games with the team. Durant is more than capable as a passer, evidenced by his career-high 16 assists in a win over the Indiana Pacers on the final day of the regular season. The Nets were expected to compete for the No. 1 seed as the preseason title favorite, but an injury to Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving's vaccination status and an unexpected trade demand from James Harden led them to the No. 7 seed.

Every game from this point on is big. It's the post-season even if only the play-in tournament and the Nets are looking like they're getting healthy at the ...

Maybe the coaches and front office — but as players, we’re locked into the task at hand.” “He fits and he helps in a number of ways. “We’re worried about the play-in game right now,” Curry said. No minutes on the floor with his teammates and see how we can forge that understanding as quickly as possible.” “Another challenge, but one that we’d welcome, clearly,” Nash said of the possibility after Monday’s practice. Dragic had been listed as “out” by Steve Nash after this morning’s practice was surprisingly upgraded to available in the late afternoon.

Everything that has come before is mere anecdote for the Nets. Tuesday night they host Cleveland, and if they beat the Cavaliers they'll face the Celtics ...

They have never lacked for confidence, even during points when this season seemed on a collision course with the abyss. They can’t have the season come down to a 48-minute referendum. There are no other games; THIS. IS. THE. GAME.” The Nets have their Big Two, and if they can buy more time, they might even be joined by Ben Simmons at some point. They really do need to win Tuesday, and let the Cavaliers worry about a one-and-done gauntlet Friday. Even if that game would be in Brooklyn for the Nets, they cannot want any part of that. “It’s easy to be concerned, it’s easy to be worried and pissed off and mad. It isn’t the easiest way to get from here to Borough Hall, but it is their only way. They’ve never actually said “we’ll flip a switch when we need to.” but in act and in deed that’s exactly how they’ve behaved. The entire band was together for one of the few points to that point in the season. This was March 6, inside a boiling cauldron of a basketball arena called TD Bank Garden. The Nets became a losing team that afternoon. The Nets had been whole that day, too. “Concerned and worried, those words, it’s easy to do that,” Durant said, maybe half an hour after the final buzzer that Sunday afternoon.

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving had a great reaction to Kevin Durant racking up a career-high 16 assists on the last day of the season.

“PG from PG County man, I told him that in the locker room just to get a good laugh out of him,” Irving shared. "PG from PG County man, I told him in the locker room just to get a good laugh out of him…. The other night when we had him up here talking, you could hear he just has a poise about him,” Irving continued. Since the Nets love how Kyrie Irving plays off the ball, they’ve had to evolve as a team following the James Harden-Ben Simmons trade. The Brooklyn Nets clinched the No. 7 seed on Sunday and will gear up for a showdown vs. KD certainly didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary for him given he says he has been an elite passer since 2013.

The Brooklyn Nets entered this season as title favorites, but a detrimental injury to Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving being a part-time player until the final ...

In the end, though, I expect Durant and Irving to be more than enough to take care of a young Cavaliers team. Being without Allen is a real detriment to Cleveland, and it'll give Durant and Irving the green light to attack the heart of the Cavs' defense. We'll get to see just how impressive Mobley is on defense in this game, and it'll be interesting to see how the rookie adapts. When Irving and Durant are clicking, the Nets are an incredibly difficult team to stop. That makes them a bit more vulnerable in the frontcourt, and against Irving who can get to the rim at will, that's not ideal. But the Cavs have been one of this season's darling teams due to elevated play from Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, to go along with a breakout rookie performance from Evan Mobley.

After closing the regular season with four straight wins — including one against Cleveland — the Nets are favored to take the rematch in Tuesday's play-in ...

Edge: Nets Edge: Nets But the Nets still managed to blitz the Cavs 35-19 in the fourth quarter of their last meeting. Allen was top 10 in paint points, and losing both he and Collin Sexton leaves the burden to Garland and Evan Mobley. But the Cavs still scored 60 paint points in the last meeting. Even with James Harden gone, the Nets are among the NBA’s best at earning and making free throws, but they commit silly reach-in fouls. Brooklyn held the Cavs to 8-for-27 in the last meeting.

The No. 2 Celtics will take on the 7-seed. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving Kevin Durant talks with Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets after the second half against ...

If you do, you face the Bucks with the benefit of home-court advantage. “I think we believe in ourselves and we only have one goal in mind. Allen hasn’t been ruled out for the playoffs, but the fact that he will miss Tuesday’s game doesn’t bode well for the Cavs. The Celtics split the other two — they were blown out in their first contest (an early-season game) but won the most recent 126-120 behind a superstar 54-point performance by Jayson Tatum. Sexton is out for the season, and Allen is still recovering from a fractured finger on his left hand. If you can’t beat a short-handed Nets team, were you really a contender in the first place?

Going up against the upstart Cavs in the play-in, the star-studded Nets will need more than just Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to win.

As one of the bigger teams in the league, the Cavs will be a tough out and will give the Nets all kinds of trouble on the boards. After losing his spot in Brooklyn’s rotation earlier this season, Griffin still has a chance to redeem himself and help out the Nets in a major way. If he can provide the Nets with some rebounding, low-post scoring, 3-point shooting and rim protection, then he could be a huge difference maker during their play-in showdown with the Cavaliers. These span from Kevin Durant missing significant time with a sprained medial collateral in his left knee to Kyrie Irving constantly in and out of the lineup due to his stance on the COVID-19 vaccination mandate. At one time, Griffin was an anomaly at the power forward spot with his lethal mix of size, speed and athleticism. Last season with the Nets, he was a major contributor and started to show flashes of his previous form.

NEW YORK — Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have played in the NBA Finals and Olympics, so they've been in just about every kind of big game there is. The pl.

We’ve been hit hard and a few areas where we really haven’t had the opportunity to see what we are still as a collective. “Well No. 1, I think somebody’s in the back room hip-hip-hooraying, whoever created the play-in tournament, because last year you get Steph and LeBron,” Irving said. “But once we got this group together, we knew they had an opportunity to be a good basketball team. We understand how important the game is already, so the best thing to do is just play free and stick to the game plan and trust in your teammates, and I think that’s usually how you try to approach these games, and we’ll see what happens.” “And I think it’s obvious that we miss him a lot.” “For us, we know that we could come up with every excuse in the world of what happened this season,” Irving said. Both have been MVPs of the world basketball championship and said this game will feel like one late in a playoff series. That’s what it’s going to have to be Tuesday night,” forward Kevin Love said. Allen hasn’t played since getting hurt March 6, and the Cavs haven’t been the same without him. He’s not expected to return to face his former team, but the Cavaliers already knew they have to play tough, with or without him. We know what we’re facing.” The Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t sure they would, either, after losing 50 games last season.

“I think somebody's in the back room, hip-hip-hooraying, whoever created the tournament,” Nets star Kyrie Irving said after Sunday's regular-season finale ...

They let the Knicks run up a 21-point lead before coming back to win in the second half, and in last Friday’s matchup against the Cavaliers, they blew a 17-point lead before opening the game back up in the fourth quarter. As much of a challenge as the Nets pose on paper, they have shown a propensity to play beneath the championship standard, especially against lesser opponents, which the Cavs, as good as they are, qualify as. … We should be excited about what we could build, what we can accomplish in a short period of time here and how difficult we could be to beat in a playoff situation.” Drummond once categorized this upcoming playoff push as similar to “playing pickup,” in that the players are relatively unfamiliar with each other, so they’re learning each other’s game on the fly. The winner will take the seventh seed for a date with the Celtics in the first round. But right now we’ll play this like it’s our opportunity to get in and give the requisite focus and energy.”

After weeks of uncertainty down the home stretch of the regular season, the Brooklyn Nets finally have clarity on what their first steps of their ...

The other team is going to go on runs and you just got to be prepared to really withstand it. “You know that the ball is going to be tipped and it’s not really going to depend on anything other than will, skill, how they’ll prepare, physicality, how well you know the other team’s offensive schemes, and really paying attention to the possessions in three-minute spurts. You just got to prepare for anything that can happen and really come in with a fearless attitude going against another great team. From Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis last season to Durant, Irving, Paul George, Karl-Anthony Towns, and company this year, the play-in tournament has been a success in the eyes of the fans and the league. “I’m sure there will be some good basketball out there with the talent we have in this league.” The Nets got it done in typical Nets fashion, blowing a 17-point lead and making the win tougher than it needed to be. It’s the same scenario for both teams,” said Steve Nash on playing the Cavaliers recently ahead of their play-in matchup. “Well No. 1, I think somebody is in the backroom ‘hip-hip hoorayin’ about the play-in tournament. Something to go home, think about all the possessions that happened the other night, learn from them, and take what you can into Tuesday because they’re going to make adjustments, we’re going to make adjustments, and it’s going to be an all-out battle.” If that comes Tuesday, Brooklyn is the 7-seed and will face the Boston Celtics. If the Nets drop that contest, the team will face a win-or-go-home game against the winner of the 9/10 Play-In game ( Charlotte Hornets vs. It is also unfamiliar territory for the Nets as a franchise. The best thing to do is just play free, stick to the game plan, and trust your teammates,” said Durant on approaching Tuesday’s Play-In Matchup. “That’s usually how you approach these games.

The Nets face a rematch with the Cavaliers on Tuesday with a trip to Boston on the line. Perhaps no team is as volatile as Brooklyn.

Seth Partnow: It’s hard to recall a team that we knew less about entering a postseason than this Nets group. Seth Partnow: It’s hard to recall a team that we knew less about entering a postseason than this Nets group. Perhaps no team in the Play-In or the playoffs is as volatile as Brooklyn. After a wild regular season, the Nets enter this week still banged up and with little known about them as a fully healthy unit.

Opening odds, plus a pick for Game 1 of the NBA's Play-In Tournament Tuesday night ...

Every game between the Cavs and Nets this year has gone under in the regular season. these Cavs. The Cavs don't play fast; entering with the sixth-lowest pace in the league; so trying to run with the Nets is the opposite of what they'll look to do. Cleveland ranks fifth overall in defensive rating and third in opponent second chance points.

It's time to continue our NBA odds series with a Cavaliers-Nets prediction and pick for Tuesday's play-in game.

Hence, expect history to repeat itself, and the Nets to win and cover the spread. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and the Cavs must soldier on without him. The Cavaliers will cover the spread if Garland and Mobley convert their opportunities. Harden messed with their chemistry, and the Nets rectified that. Additionally, the Cavs must win the battle on the boards. The Cavs played the Nets last week and suffered a 118-107 loss. Ultimately, the Nets pulled off the comeback and won the game. With Allen out, the Cavs will need someone to defend and grab rebounds. Also, the Cavs must hit their shots from beyond the arc. The vets on the bench will need to step up. If the Cavs are to beat the Nets, they will need his all-around play. It has been an interesting season for the Nets. Kyrie Irving could not play for a sizable chunk of the season due to the vaccine mandate in New York City. Of course, Kevin Durant missed a chunk of games due to injury.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant combined for 55 points as the Brooklyn Nets held off a rally from the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to seal seventh place in the ...

Reaves scored seven straight Lakers' points in overtime, including a three-pointer to give Los Angeles a 142-137 lead en route to the comeback win. The win means Brooklyn will face a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday where a victory will see them enter directly into the playoffs as seventh seeds. Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket against the Indiana Pacers on April 10, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York City. Photo: VCG

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Trae Young, Paul George and Brandon Ingram are among the NBA stars who need victories in the play-in tournament to advance to ...

Ingram did not play in the four-point Spurs win, and his presence should shift the matchup in New Orleans' favor. New Orleans' defensive ace, Herbert Jones, could be the difference-maker in that matchup. The former Portland Trail Blazers guard led all scorers with 32 points in the previous meeting with the Spurs on March 26. Clint Capela had 17 points and 15 rebounds in his team's most recent clash with Charlotte. He had two double-doubles against the Hornets this season. The Wolves have an issue in the form of their defense. The sides both reached more than 100 points in three of their four regular-season meetings, which they split. The Hawks' other edge could come in bench scoring. That is a bad sign for Tuesday and the rest of the postseason. Durant, Irving and the Brooklyn Nets are the biggest story of the play-in round. They have the second-worst scoring defense of the franchises left playing basketball. The Clippers are set to take on a less playoff-experienced Minnesota Timberwolves team, and they will make the game incredibly difficult on Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns et al. Indiana had 32 handouts Sunday, and Cleveland had 19 helpers on Friday. That could be a good sign for Garland's assist prop when those numbers are released closer to tip time.

Here are the chances for each play-in team to make a deep playoff run.

Even then, they would enter the main bracket as the No. 8 seed and run into the red-hot Phoenix Suns. Of the West play-in teams, the Los Angeles Clippers represent the best potential title team but even they will be without Kawhi Leonard. That hinders their chances significantly. The Brooklyn Nets have the best title odds of any play-in team at +600 per DraftKings Sportsbook. The Nets entered the season as title favorites, but the James Harden trade and Kyrie Irving’s part-time status hurt them in the standings down the stretch. Brooklyn is the best candidate to go the furthest, but winning a title seems to be too much of a stretch. There isn’t much data to go on, since this is only the second time this competition is being used. Getting out of the play-in tournament is hard enough, especially if you are in the 9-10 matchup. The play-in teams tend to have a tough time going far in the postseason due to their low seed and first-round matchups.

The Brooklyn Nets ended the regular season on a four-game winning streak that earned them the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, but there's still work ...

The winner of the 7-8 matchup will advance to play the No. 2 seed in their conference. A loss would drop the Nets into Thursday’s last-chance playoff against the 9-10 winner. The loser of that game is eliminated from playoff contention – but the loser of the 7-8 game still gets another chance.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets face off on Tuesday at Barclays Center in an NBA Play-In Tournament game. Who will win?

The Cavs have covered in each of their last two games as underdogs and are 2-2 ATS in their last four as underdogs. With the Cavs missing Allen, the Nets demolished Cleveland in the rebounding department, 45-31. The Nets also seem to have Cleveland’s number, having defeated the Cavs three times in four meetings this season. The Nets, who were among the preseason favorites to win the NBA title, will have the advantage of playing in front of its home crowd. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Every game between the Cavs and Nets this year has gone under in the regular season. Cameron DaSilva writes: "The Nets are only 2-6 ATS in their last eight games as favorites. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and the Cavs must soldier on without him. It writes: "There will still be no Ben Simmons for the Nets, but there should be no shortage of firepower at all for Brooklyn, which will both have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to run the show. Moreover, Brooklyn is 7-3-1 against the spread in its last 10 games at home versus the Cavs. That includes their recent 118-107 victory just last Friday at home in which Durant went off for 36 points. The loser will face the winner of Wednesday's Charlotte Hornets vs. RB Hayek writes: "The game would be so much better if Allen were healthy.

Like all of the other teams in the postseason field, injuries are a major factor to take into the consideration for this group. On the injury front, the ...

Head coach Steve Nash also told reporters on Monday that there’s a chance Goran Dragic can clear health and safety protocols in time to play against the Cavaliers. Update, April 11 — Dragic has cleared protocols and is now available to play Tuesday vs. On the injury front, the question for the Nets is if forward Ben Simmons will be able to suit up for the postseason.

The Cavs are not feeling good about the possibility of Jarrett Allen suiting up in the play-in tournament against the Nets.....

Since it’s a structural problem, it’s taking ample time for him to heal. Bickerstaff, a source said, is mentally preparing for Allen to be out. There is no doubt the Cavs need Allen in order to really play at their full potential.

The NBA Eastern Conference play-In tournament features the Nets, Cavaliers, Hawks and Hornets fighting for the final two playoff spots.

Brooklyn beats Cleveland in the first game for the seventh seed and Atlanta beats Charlotte to stay alive. This team is too young and too poor on defense to do much of anything beyond the play-in. The Hornets return to the play-in tournament after taking a beating in this spot a season ago. The same kind of defense that allowed 144 points in the play-in game a season ago and somehow regressed since then. The Hawks have the best offense of any team in this tournament and can’t be counted out with Young. And secondly, the offense took a massive leap from 23rd in offense rating to eighth. The development of third-year point guard Darius Garland and a vastly improved defense are to credit for the Cavaliers’ leap. And if Allen (finger) is healthy for the play-in tournament, Cleveland’s oversized frontcourt can create matchup advantages. They do, however, hold teams to a little more than 105 ppg, one of the best marks in the league. Rookie of the Year favorite Evan Mobley with first-time All-Star Jarrett Allen made for a stellar shot-blocking duo and helped Cleveland rise from 25th in defensive rating to fifth. It took all year, but finally both stars are in the lineup and Brooklyn is winning basketball games. The team with the third-best odds to win the NBA Finals is also two losses away from missing the playoffs altogether.