The Nets’ "Big Three" of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving totaled 96 points and scored 42 of their last 57 points against the Cavaliers Wednesday night in Cleveland. But it wasn’t enough. The Cavs’ Collin Sexton scored the first 16 points in the second overtime for his team on the way to a 147-135 victory that snapped the Nets’ three-game winning streak.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Cavs built a 13-point lead, and after back-to-back threes by former Net Taurean Prince, they had a 104-92 lead with 7:16 left to play. From there, the Nets put together a 13-3 run that included threes from the "Big Three" of Durant, Harden and Irving to cut the deficit to 107-105 with 4:12 to go.
When Irving tipped in a miss by Joe Harris, the game was tied at 113 with 1:10 left to play. Harden later missed a potential go-ahead three, and the Sexton committed a turnover that led to a foul call on him against Irving at the other end with 1.5 seconds left. The Cavs challenged the call and won, and the game went to overtime.
Irving hit a three to open the overtime and give the Nets their first lead since early in the third quarter. But Larry Nance tied it at 120 when he hit a left-wing three with 46.8 seconds left in OT. Nets veteran Jeff Green responded with a three at the 28.2-second mark, and Cedi Osman scored on a layup with 24.9 left to make it a one-point game. Harden hit two foul shots for a 125-122 lead with 18.3 seconds left, but Sexton's three with 1.2 seconds left tied the game at 127 and sent it to the second overtime.
Durant led the Nets (9-7) with 38 points and added 12 rebounds and eight assists, Irving totaled 37 points, and Harden had a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, but the bench had only 10 points. Sexton topped the Cavs (7-7) with 42 points, Osman had 25. Prince (17 points) and another former Net, Jarrett Allen, (12 points, 11 rebounds) played major roles.
This game marked the Cavaliers debut for center Allen and forward Prince, who were traded to the Cavs as part of the four-team deal that brought Harden to the Nets. Allen was the Nets’ No. 1 pick in 2017 and is only 22 and was thought to be a major building block for the future.
"Jarrett is a great human being," Nets coach Steve Nash said before the game. "He came to work every day, did his job, he’s a very talented rim protector, versatile defender and can guard any position. You root for him because you believe in him as a person and a guy…Taurean is a great competitor as well and is an excellent NBA player."
In their first game together with the "Big Three," the Nets had a spate of early turnovers but balanced that with 10-for-10 shooting to open the game and built a 23-15 lead that included seven points from Irving in his first game back after missing seven straight, five for personal reasons and two because he was regaining condition.
The key in the first half was a 17-0 Cavaliers run spanning the end of the opening quarter into the second period for a 32-23 lead. Osman had nine of those points, including a four-point play, and the Nets shot 0-for-11 during that stretch with three of their 10 first-half turnovers. The Nets cut that deficit to 51-49 at halftime as Harden got his first two points of the game at the foul line in the final minute of the half.
