Diving deeper into Cavs narrow 125-121 victory over the Nets

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers nearly fumbled a 22-point fourth-quarter lead as they defeated the Brooklyn Nets 125-121 in their home opener.

Three stars of the game

First star: Michael Porter Jr.

28 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals

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Being an off-ball scoring threat on an otherwise inept offense is difficult. Ideally, Porter would be creating looks through his movement and receiving passes from someone that actually requires defensive attention — say, Nikola Jokic. Instead, Porter has to work off Egor Demin and Julius Randle, which isn’t always the easiest task.

However, Porter made that look easy this game. He was disruptive off-ball, drawing the defense’s attention away from the play, and when he did get an opening, he made the most of it. This was on top of being an impactful defender.

Second star: Jarrett Allen

21 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal

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Allen was limited to 27 minutes, presumably because of the knee injury he is playing through, but made the most of his time on the court. He was aggressive attacking in the pick-and-roll when the Nets blitzed the ball handler, and even threw in a three-point make from the top of the arc.

Aside from maybe the three-point attempt, this was exactly what you want to see from Allen. And the Cavs were once again better off because he was a meaningful part of the offensive attack.

Third star: Donovan Mitchell

22 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal

Mitchell’s scoring is in midseason form. There are things you could criticize him for in these first two games— particularly the turnovers — but scoring isn’t one of them.

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The shotmaking has felt effortless at the start of the season. He’s doing a good job of creating space off the dribble, allowing him to score at all three levels. Interestingly enough, Mitchell isn’t hunting off-the-dribble threes as much as we’ve seen in the past. He’s only taken 10 triples through two games, with most of them being catch-and-shoot threes. The three-point volume is something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

Dud of the game

Day’Ron Sharpe

7 points, 1 assist, 8 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 6…