Cavs Top Nets in OT, Advance to Championship

Other teams might have come into Summer League play with bigger names and higher Draft picks, but as it stands, the Wine & Gold are now one victory away from winning the whole enchilada on Monday night in Vegas. 

The Cavaliers made it a perfect 5-0 and reached the NBA 2K24 Summer League title game in dramatic fashion. 

With Cleveland needing just one bucket for the overtime win, Isaiah Mobley backed Brooklyn’s RaiQuan Gray down into the lane, turned and rattled home the game-winner – sealing the 102-99 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center in Sunday’s semifinal.

The Cavs had to fend off the Nets – who they dropped in the opener nine days ago – twice in Sunday’s win.

Cleveland led by 11 points to start the fourth quarter and by nine with five minutes to play, but the Nets stormed back to tie the game on Armoni Brooks three-pointer to tie the game at 101-apiece with 17 seconds to play. In overtime – an untimed race to the target score of 101 – Cleveland was up six, 100-94, on Emoni Bates’ dunk before having to fend off Brooklyn’s late rally. 

All the Cavaliers who’d impressed throughout their undefeated Summer League run this past week stayed strong on Sunday. 

The elder Mobley did a little bit of everything again in the OT victory – including notching a game-high 23 points, going 9-for-15 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the stripe, adding seven boards, five assists and a pair of blocks. Cleveland’s offense ran through the 2nd-year pro for most of the second half, and he was one of four Cavs starters with at least five assists.

“I’m a Swiss Army Knife, (I’ll play) however coaches want to use me,” said Mobley. “If it’s for defensive rebounding or playmaking or scoring or a little bit of everything, I feel like I have that the versatility to be able to do that. And just belief. I pride myself as a winner. And I try to win at everything I do.” 

Emoni Bates has looked like the steal of the Second Round through five games in Vegas, and he’s improved as the week has progressed. 

On Sunday, the 49th overall pick out of Eastern Michigan reached the 20-point plateau for the first time, tallying 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-5 from long-range, adding seven boards in the win. 

“For me, it was just keep playing,” said Bates, who had half of Cleveland’s eight points in the extra-session. “As the game kept going on, you’re tired, but you just have to push, find the extra gear. At the end of the game, everybody’s tired, so you just have to keep pushing.”

Sam Merrill drilled another four three-pointers of his own and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the stripe – finishing with 19 points, adding five dimes and a steal. The 27-year-old sharpshooter from Utah State notched double-figure scoring in all four games he started this week. 

Making his second Summer Leagues stint with the Cavaliers, Luke Travers once again showed off his versatility – chipping in with 11 points, a game-high 12 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots, one more than Brooklyn has as a team. 

Craig Porter has simply gotten better all week, and in his second straight start, the undrafted guard from Wichita State also chipped in from everywhere on the floor – finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds, a team-high seven assists and two blocks of his own. 

Pete Nance led Cleveland’s reserves with eight points – going 3-of-8 from the floor, canning his only three-point attempt, adding three boards, a steal and blocked shot in 23 minutes off the bench. 

The Cavaliers will try to win the NBA 2K24 Summer League championship on Monday night – taking on the Houston Rockets, who topped the Jazz on Sunday to join Cleveland as the only teams to wrap up the week undefeated.