Cavaliers fail to match Nets stars in play-in for seventh playoff seed

Cleveland Cavaliers fail to complete a comeback after falling behind early

The Cleveland Cavaliers could not pull off an upset against the heavily-favored Brooklyn Nets in the opening game of the Play-in tournament. Surrendering the seventh seed in the East following the 115-108 decider, the Cavs will one last opportunity to make the Playoffs.

Although the Cavs came out with a sense of urgency, opening the match toe-to-toe with the hosts in Brooklyn, the potency of the Nets behind their unstoppable duo of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant became too much to overcome for the inexperienced Cavaliers squad.

Darius Garland continued to lead the way for Cleveland, matching the 34-point scoring output of Brooklyn star guard Irving, who had a near-perfect shooting night, while NBA Rookie of the Year contender Evan Mobley put up 19 markers to go with seven boards and two blocked shots.

Fresh off a fiery outing against the Milwaukee Bucks in the regular-season finale, veteran forward Kevin Love added 14 points and 13 boards off the bench, but saw teammates Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert and Lauri Markkanen struggle to find the mark in the loss.

Cavs will have one more crack at advancing to the Playoffs

Falling behind 40-20 by the end of the first period, Cleveland continued to compete by winning all three succeeding quarters. However, still behind by 22 early in the third quarter, the gap proved too much to overcome as the undermanned Cavs team could not cover the deficit despite stringing together several runs that cut it to a two-possession game several times in the final quarter.

A potential return from Jarrett Allen, who is still recovering from a broken finger suffered early in March but is reportedly on the way back, could spell the difference between Cleveland packing it all up for the summer or going into the postseason to face the top-seeded Miami Heat team.

What used to be one of the most potent defensive teams in the East earlier in the season has allowed opponents to topple the century scoring mark in 22 out of the 25 games since after All-Star Weekend, proving how crucial Allen’s role as the defensive anchor for the team.

With the Nets moving on to play the second-seeded Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers now await the winner between the Atlanta Hawks and the Charlotte Hornets to joust in a one-off knockout game on the 15th for the final ticket to the postseason as the 8th seed.