Cleveland Cavaliers: What We Learned vs. Brooklyn Nets

Here’s what we learned following the Cleveland Cavaliers victory over the Brooklyn Nets, their second meeting this season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers extend their winning streak to six games after a 119-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets. The Cavs now have the longest active win streak in the league and appear to be hitting their stride.

LeBron James led the way once again with 33 points on 11 of 17 shooting (64.7%) and was 4 of 7 (57.1%) from behind the arc. Despite the high scoring numbers, James spent most of the night struggling to find a rhythm. He finished the first half with just seven points and missed a good portion of the third quarter because of an inadvertent headbutt from Tyler Zeller. After getting stitched up, LeBron returned to the game and delivered 23 points on 7 of 8 shooting.

Dwyane Wade and Kevin Love kept Cleveland in the game for the first three quarters. Wade had another terrific performance and finished with 18 points on 8 of 13 shooting (61.5%) with 5 assists. It was just another day in the office for Love who finished with 18 points and 10 rebound for another double-double.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson led the way for the Nets with 20 points and 6 boards. Former Cavalier Joe Harris contributed 18 points of his own in the loss.

Here’s what we learned from Cleveland’s sixth straight win.

Nothing in life is guaranteed. 

There were three guarantees in life before 2017: death, taxes, and LeBron finishing breakaway dunks. That last one is no longer a sure thing.

James picked off a pass in the first quarter and tried to windmill home the dunk. Unfortunately for him, the rim had other ideas.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this from James. He missed a similar breakaway dunk in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals as well.

LeBron just thought he’d remind us that he is human after all.

Jae Crowder continues to settle into his role.

Crowder has played his two best games in a Cavs uniform this past week. He followed up a solid performance in Detroit with an even better showing against the Nets on Wednesday night. Crowder finished with 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting.

Crowder is showing that he still could be the three-and-D guy Cleveland thought they were getting from Boston. He knocked down all three of his triples against the Nets. The Cavs played their best defense with Crowder on the floor, which surprisingly, isn’t something that has been said often this year. He finished with 2 steals and a 98.6 defensive rating. The team as a whole had a 110.1 defensive rating on the night.

JR Smith’s slump continues.

Smith has been a non-factor for the majority of the season. He finished this game with just 3 points on 1 of 4 shooting in 33 minutes.

Smith is having a hard time finding his shot. It’s not that he isn’t making shots, it’s that he’s simply not taking them. The Cavs need the defense and the shot making that Smith provides, however when he isn’t aggressively looking for his shot he becomes a liability on both ends of the floor.

Dwyane Wade still has the Euro-step in his arsenal. 

Wade broke out his famous Euro-step a couple times on Tuesday night.

Wade has been effective most of this season without the athleticism that we’ve come to expect from him the last 15 years. He’ll never be the athlete he once was, but it’s good to see him make moves like this on occasion.

The 2003 NBA Draft class continues to dominate together.

James, Wade and Korver continue to be the Cavs’ best three-man lineup.

The Cavs had an offensive rating of 157.8, a defensive rating of 103.9, and a net rating of 53.9 in the 13 minutes they shared the on Wednesday night. As a result the Cavs outscored the Nets by 18 points when all three were on the floor.

On the year this lineup has an offensive rating of 130.7 and a defensive rating of 100.6 in the nearly 130 minutes they’ve played together. The Cavs are outscoring their opponent by 30.1 points per 100 possessions when all three are on the floor.

LeBron can be the closer.

James struggled for the first three quarters, but that didn’t matter in the end. LeBron sealed the victory by scoring 23 points in the fourth quarter including 18 of the last 25 points for the Cavs.

James reminded us all just how dominate he can be, even in his 15th year in the league.

The Cavs will look to push their winning streak to seven games when they take on the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.

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