Cavs drop to 0-4 with loss to Nets

Life without LeBron James has been harder so far than the Cavaliers hoped.

Cleveland fell to 0-4 after a 102-86 loss to Brooklyn on Oct. 24. 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 Los Angeles Lakers in the summer.

His absence was obviously going to leave a void, but blowout losses at home to Atlanta and Brooklyn 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 11year 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 133-111 loss

in its home opener to the Hawks. The Cavaliers are 0-4 for the first time since losing their first five games in 2003-04 when James was a rookie.

Cleveland will face a difficult task Oct. 25 with a road game against Detroit and Blake Griffin, who scored 50 points in an overtime win over Philadelphia on Tuesday.