The Cleveland Cavaliers play their first home game of the season Saturday night, hosting the Brooklyn Nets at Rocket Arena in Cleveland with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. ET. Both teams arrive at 0-1 and looking for a first win, but Cleveland carries the heavier question into the night: how it responds after a season opener it controlled for a half and then let slip away on the road.
That opener came Thursday at Philadelphia, where the Cavaliers built a lead of as many as 29 points before the 76ers stormed back for a 114-106 win. Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 32 points and 10 rebounds, though he was held to 10 points after halftime, while Evan Mobley added 18 points and eight rebounds and James Harden scored 16. Tyrese Maxey scored 32 and Jaylen Brown added 24 for Philadelphia.
Mitchell, speaking to reporters afterward in remarks reported by Roundtable Sports, pointed to Philadelphia’s second-half pressure and to the adjustment now in front of his team. “Now it’s on us to figure out a solution. So now we see it, and we make an adjustment,” he said. “It’s not cool that we lost. It’s still disappointing. There’s a lesson to be learned.” Saturday’s home opener is the first chance to show that lesson took.
Brooklyn arrives in a similar spot after opening its season Wednesday with a 110-103 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The Nets got big nights from their forwards in defeat: Julius Randle scored 33 points with eight rebounds and seven assists, and Michael Porter Jr. added 26 points and seven rebounds. Brooklyn’s probable starters also include guards Egor Demin and Keon Ellis and center Day’Ron Sharpe, giving the Nets size and scoring Cleveland will have to match from the opening tip.
Cleveland’s injury report lists three players out: Nae’Qwan Tomlin, dealing with a stress reaction in his lower back and expected to miss at least three more weeks; Khalifa Diop, nursing a left knee injury and considered day-to-day; and Ernest Udeh Jr., inactive as a two-way contract player rather than injured. Brooklyn lists Tyler Bilodeau out with a shoulder injury. Center Jarrett Allen is available after recovering from right patellar tendinopathy, and he had 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks against Philadelphia.
Cleveland’s probable starting five — Harden and Mitchell in the backcourt, Peyton Watson and Mobley at forward, and Allen at center — gives the home crowd its first regular-season look at this group at Rocket Arena. After reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season, expectations in Cleveland start with nights like this one, and a flat second half at home would only sharpen the questions raised in Philadelphia.
The game airs on YES Network and DAZN, and it opens a busy home stretch. The Cavaliers stay at Rocket Arena to host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, October 26, and the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, October 28, before heading to Atlanta on October 29. A win Saturday steadies the start at 1-1; a second straight loss would make the opener’s collapse look less like one bad half and more like an early pattern to fix.
Photo: Erik Drost, CC BY