Mitchell leads Cleveland past Brooklyn in series opener
Chalmers’ choice: Jordan over LeBron
NEW YORK — Donovan Mitchell had five 3-pointers and one sensational slam dunk among his 31 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers opened a big lead in the third quarter and held on for a 115-109 victory over Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.
Caris LeVert added 18 points for the Cavaliers in the opener of a two-game series. Cleveland led by only six after a competitive first half, but quickly blew it open in the third en route to its seventh win in nine games.
The Cavs opened a 24-point lead and Mitchell’s slam over Yuta Watanabe came with the Nets desperately hoping to get back into it early in the fourth.
Darius Garland and Evan Mobley each added 17 points, and Jarrett Allen returned from a four-game absence with a right eye injury with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Day’Ron Sharpe had 20 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Nets, who lost their fourth straight game.
The teams play again Thursday night to complete what could be a postseason preview. The Cavaliers are solidly in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, nearing their first playoff berth since 2018 in LeBron James’ final season in Cleveland, and their first without him on the roster since 1998.
The Nets came in just two games behind the New York Knicks for fifth, but now are only a halfgame ahead of Miami for seventh, which would mean having to get through the play-in round.
MAGIC 122, WIZARDS 112: In Orlando, Fla., rookie Pablo Banchero had 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and the Magic won for the first time in eight games against Washington. Gary Harris scored 22 points for the Magic, and Franz Wagner had 20 points.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 30 points for the Wizards, who lost for the sixth time in seven games.
HAWKS 129, PISTONS 107: In Atlanta, Bogdan Bogdanovic sank three 3-pointers in a decisive 16-0 run early in the second half for the Hawks (36-36), who completed their first four-game season series sweep of the Pistons since the 1993-94 season.
Trae Young had 30 points and 12 assists for Atlanta. Marvin Bagley III scored a season-high 31 points for the NBA-worst Pistons (16-57), who have lost 15 of 16.
PELICANS 119, SPURS 84: In New Orleans, Brandon Ingram scored 32 points, leading New Orleans to the runaway win.
Jonas Valanciunas had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Pelicans, who led by as many as 36 points.
Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 20 points for the Spurs.
Note
LEBRON vs. MJ: Former Miami Heat guard Mario Chalmers recently was interviewed on the “In Shambles” podcast via Playmaker HQ.
And in the age old debate over who is better between his former teammate LeBron James or Michael Jordan, Chalmers was asked to weigh in on the greatest of all time topic.
“Nobody fears ‘Bron,” Chalmers said. “Nobody’s like, ‘Damn, I gotta go play against ‘Bron tonight.’ Nobody said that. I don’t know why. Because I seen people be scared when they actually lined up to him, but they’re not scared thinking about that matchup, right? You hear anybody from that era talk about going against Jordan, there’s a fear. So when you have people that fear a player, then that’s telling you something different already. Like, Jordan is just that guy.”