Nets vs. Cavaliers: The Final Minutes

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After a clutch Royce O’Neal three-pointer, the Nets led 112-104 with 2:13 left in the game and were ready to finish it. The Cleveland Cavaliers had been on a hot streak recently, with them most likely staying at the fourth seed in the east.

Then on the next play, Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton fouled Caris LeVert while driving to the basket. LeVert sank both free throws and became Net’s ball. Spencer Dinwiddie brought the ball up the court and missed a shot from the three-point line. Claxton caught the offensive rebound and handed it off to Mikal Bridges, who was picked off by LeVert.

LeVert quickly ran to the basket and scored an easy layup. Then, up four with under a minute left, Dinwiddie threw the ball away to Darius Garland. With that, Garland threw it to Donovan Mitchell, who blew by former teammate Royce O’Neal for a layup.

With 45 seconds left and the Nets only up by two, Jacque Vaughn called a timeout to try to put a stop to this run by the Cavaliers. After the pause in play, Bridges inbounded the ball to Dinwiddie, who drove and floated it up and in.

After a J.B. Bickerstaff timeout, Mobley inbounds the ball to Mitchell, who put up a midrange jumper and scored. Dinwiddie then brought the ball up the court and threw it to Dorian Finney-Smith, who then attempted to pass it to Bridges, but it gets intercepted. The ball ended up in Mitchell’s hands again, but Dinwiddie fouled him.

Mitchell made the first free throw, then missed the second. The ball popped up with Nets and Cavs players in the paint jumping for the ball. It gets tapped to LeVert, who, trapped by two defenders, throws it to Isaac Okoro, who is open from the corner and drains a three with .7 seconds left to win the game. The Nets got the ball back, but with under a second left, Bridges just threw the ball up and missed.

In what seemed like an easy game to close out, the Nets struggled without someone to save them in clutch time.