Just not the same
LeBron-less Cavs no match for Nets
CLEVELAND — So far, life without LeBron James has been harder than the Cavaliers hoped.
Cleveland fell to 0-4 with a 102-86 loss to the Nets on Wednesday night. D’Angelo Russell scored 18 points, Joe Harris added 16 and the Nets outscored the Cavaliers, 38-17, in the third quarter to pull away.
James led the Cavaliers to four straight NBA Finals and a championship in 2016, but the four-time MVP signed with the Lakers in the summer.
His absence was obviously going to leave a void, but blowout losses at home to Atlanta and the Nets have been especially disappointing for the Cavs.
“We need a ‘W’ on the board, for sure,” said AllStar forward Kevin Love. “Obviously, we thought we’d be in a different position right now.”
Love was one of three Cleveland players to score a team-high 14 points. The 11-year veteran said the Cavaliers didn’t show any fight in the second half during their latest loss.
“These are big growing pains and we need to get through these,” he said. “Guys have to continue to fight. Can’t hang their heads, can’t have bad body language. This isn’t the previous four years. We have to fight for everything that we’ve got.”
The Cavaliers lost their first two games on the road to Toronto and Minnesota. Cleveland was coming off a 133111 loss in its home opener to the Hawks. The Cavaliers are 0-4 for the first time since they lost their first five games in 2003-04 when James was a rookie.
Cleveland will face a difficult task tonight with a road game against Detroit and Blake Griffin, who scored 50 points in an overtime victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The first half featured 11 lead changes and the teams were tied at 45 going to halftime before the Nets took over.
Harris hit a 3-pointer that put the Nets up 50-47 and they never trailed again. Jared Dudley’s second 3-pointer of the run pushed the lead to 68-50 with 6:12 remaining in the quarter.
“Just by moving the basketball, we went from getting good shots to great shots,” Harris said. “As long as you’re doing that, the shots are going to start falling. We’re trying to build on games like this. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”