Evan Mobley had 23 points and 16 rebounds, and Donovan Mitchell scored 22 as the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 105-100 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night, becoming the 12th team in NBA history to start a season 11-0. (More Sports News)
The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors hold the league record after winning their first 24 games. They lost to the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals
Evan Mobley had 23 points and 16 rebounds, and Donovan Mitchell scored 22 as the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 105-100 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night, becoming the 12th team in NBA history to start a season 11-0. (More Sports News)
Darius Garland scored eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for Cleveland, which trailed 82-68 with 35 seconds left in the third. Garland put the Cavaliers ahead for good at 97-96 with two free throws.
The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors hold the league record after winning their first 24 games. They lost to the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Cam Johnson scored 23 points and Dennis Schröder and Cam Thomas had 22 apiece for the Nets. Brooklyn trailed by 15 in the second quarter but held Cleveland to a season-low 13 points in the third with Johnson and Thomas combining for 19.
The Cavaliers failed to score 110 points for the first time, ending their NBA-record streak of doing so in 10 consecutive wins to open a season. Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain and the 1960-61 Philadelphia Warriors held the mark with nine.
New Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson admitted “there was a little extra” at stake for him facing Brooklyn for the first time since being fired by the Nets in 2020. Mobley took the message to heart, making 10 of 11 field goal attempts.
After Johnson buried a 3-pointer with 4:23 left to extend Brooklyn’s lead to 96-89, the Cavaliers answered with 10 straight points. Garland scored four in a row, then fed Mobley for a dunk to complete the game-changing run.
The Cavs are two victories from matching the longest streak in franchise history. Cleveland has won 13 in a row three times, all with franchise icon LeBron James on the roster, last doing so from Nov. 11 to Dec. 6, 2017.
Bulls rally past Hawks
After trailing for most of the game, the Chicago Bulls stormed back in the second half to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 125-113, snapping a four-game losing streak.
Atlanta outscored Chicago 37-24 in the first quarter and led by as many as 18, but the Bulls started the fourth with a 14-3 run, took their first lead of the game, 104-101, with 7:35 left in regulation and never looked back.
Nikola Vucevic scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds. Zack LaVine and Coby White also scored 18 points, Josh Giddey added 13 and Patrick Williams tallied 10.
Trae Young had his third double-double in as many games with 14 points and 16 assists, but the effort was wasted for a second game in a row.
The Bulls trailed until midway through the fourth quarter when Jalen Smith's dunk gave Chicago its first lead, 102-101, with 8:04 left in regulation. Chicago did not trail for the remainder of the game.
Surging Clippers fend off Raptors
James Harden had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Norman Powell added 24 points and the Los Angeles Clippers barely hung on to beat the Toronto Raptors 105-103 for their fourth straight victory.
Ivica Zubac had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who have won three straight at Intuit Dome after starting 0-4 in their lavish new home.
Ochai Agbaji and Immanuel Quickley scored 21 points apiece for the Raptors, who have lost three straight and seven of eight.
After Quickley hit a tying 3-pointer with 39 seconds left, Powell and Harden combined to miss three of six free throws to leave the door open for Toronto. But Quickley and RJ Barrett both missed tough short shots under defensive pressure before Jakob Poeltl missed a putback attempt with 4.1 seconds left.