As soon as Cleveland got humiliated by Golden State on Monday, Nets interim coach Tony Brown knew the Cavaliers would be “breathing fire,” and Donald Sloan said they would come to Brooklyn looking to dominate.
That’s exactly what happened.
Being prepared for it doesn’t mean being able to do anything about it. The Nets got beaten 91-78 on Wednesday by a focused, fired-up Cavaliers squad. And even though the margin didn’t show it, this game was never competitive.
“It had to do with our guys reaching down and recognizing we had to get back on track right away,’’ Cleveland coach David Blatt said. “It’s painful to get knocked down, but it’s shameful to not get back up.’’
Oh, the Cavs got up — and stepped all over the Nets while doing it.
The Nets got harried and harassed by Cleveland’s swarming defense, getting into their offensive sets too far away from the basket, if at all. The Nets shot just 41.7 percent, while LeBron James had 17 points and five assists and Kevin Love broke out of his malaise to manhandle Thaddeus Young.
“I didn’t think it was our best effort since [my] taking over,” Brown said. “I don’t know if it was just because it’s Cleveland, but clearly we can do a lot better on both ends of the floor.”
And Young couldn’t disagree.
“We didn’t have the effort and it wasn’t being displayed,” Young said. “At the end of the day we have to continue to fight, continue to play and just continue to be ready each and every night. And [Wednesday] we weren’t ready. Just flush it down the toilet.’’
That’s where this performance belongs.
The Nets saw Love — who entered the game shooting just 34.8 percent this month — erupt for 17 points and 18 rebounds. Young had 14 and just five boards, while Brook Lopez finished with 16 and 10 rebounds.
“The ball stuck a lot. I’m definitely a culprit of that,’’ Lopez said. “We had trouble initiating our offense and when we did we were doing it from pretty far outside the 3-point line.’’
Sloan briefly gave the Nets a 15-13 lead by stealing a James pass and going in for a layup with 5:25 left in the first quarter; but it was the last lead Brooklyn had.
The Cavaliers reeled off 10 unanswered points, a Timofey Mozgov layup and Matthew Dellavedova jumper sandwiched around three straight James breakaways. The run put the Nets in a 23-15 hole with 1:21 left in the quarter, and it just grew from there.
“You hate to see guys get runouts for layups, uncontested shots,’’ Brown said. “There’s no defense for that.’’
That could be a double entendre from Brown, because it was certainly inexcusable.
The deficit swelled to 51-38 by the break and 73-55 after three. It finally hit 23 on an alley-oop by Tristan Thompson (14 points, 10 boards) with seven minutes left, and the Nets never mounted any resistance.
“We definitely wanted to get out to a great start and we did that. We came out with an aggressive mindset in the first quarter,’’ James said.
“I wish teams would forget about us and for the first time in my career I could fly under the radar. We haven’t done anything. We just have to go out there and prove to each other that we can get better every night. … The main thing is for us to get better. We’re a talented team with a lot of high ambitions.’’
Wednesday, they looked capable of achieving them all.