Agbaji sparks offensively, but Nets' depth and defensive struggles result in a crushing loss to the dominant Cavaliers.
The Brooklyn Nets opened their post All-Star break slate with a deflating defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night 112-84.
Brooklyn's lack of offensive rhythm and inability to contain Cleveland's all-around attack led to their downfall, as seven Cavs finished with 10-plus points.
With Nic Claxton sidelined due to an ankle sprain, the Cavs' two-headed frontcourt monster including Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen could not be stopped on both sides of the ball. The former contributed 10 points and nine rebounds in 18 minutes of action, while the latter came away with a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double in a shade under 24 minutes.
Michael Porter Jr. led the way for Brooklyn with a team-high 14 points on 13 shots, shooting 1-for-6 from three-point range. Egor Dëmin scored 10, Danny Wolf poured in 11 points on 12 shots, and Nolan Traoré's eight points and five assists came on a rough 3-for-11 shooting night.
A welcome positive development did arrive for the Nets in the form of recent trade acquisition Ochai Agbaji, as offered somewhat of a statement performance in just his second game with the team.
The ex-Toronto Raptors wing scored 13 points of his own on 5-for-8 shooting, knocking down three shots from distance in the process. Agbaji's activity on both ends was evident and surely was a silver lining for Brooklyn's head coach Jordi Fernández.
Cleveland's strategy was to collapse the defense and let Noah Clowney shoot from the perimeter to open the game, but he'd knock down two of his first four long-range attempts as a result, scoring six of his eight total points in the first quarter.
Traoré did most of the penetrating for Brooklyn when the ball wasn't in Porter Jr.'s hands. He'd struggle against the fearsome defensive duo of Mobley and Allen when navigating the pick-and-roll, an expected result to say the least.
Moving on to Cleveland's superstar offensive duo of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, both shot-making All-Stars did what they needed to to put Brooklyn away early.
Mitchell scored a game-high 17 points with five assists in 20 minutes of work. Harden manipulated defenders one-on-one and got to his patented step-back jumper a few times, ending with 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds.
Brooklyn's Day'Ron Sharpe got the start in the aftermath of Claxton's injury, but it was clear that the mismatch against both Mobley and Allen was too tall of a task to handle. Sharpe brought down four offensive rebounds (five total boards) to pair with four points and a team-worst -28 figure in the plus-minus department.
Cleveland's crop of versatile defenders and all-time great scoring talents took over from beginning to end, and the Nets won't have much of a chance to regroup before visiting the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.