Durant, Nets beat Cavs, in position to take No. 7 in East

Updated Apr. 8, 2022 10:05 p.m. ET

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 36 points, leading a pair of fourth-quarter surges that carried the Brooklyn Nets into a tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 118-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.

The Nets caught the Cavaliers at 43-38 with a game remaining and clinched the tiebreaker. They will finish seventh if they beat Indiana on Sunday in their final regular-season game. The No. 7 team hosts No. 8 on Tuesday, moving into the playoffs with a victory.

The loser of the 7-8 game has a second shot at the postseason by beating the winner of the game between the Nos. 9 and 10 teams on Friday.

Kyrie Irving shook off a poor shooting night to finish with 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Bruce Brown had 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Nets, who won their third straight. Andre Drummond had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Darius Garland scored 31 points for the Cavaliers, who dropped their third straight. They got rookie Evan Mobley back after a five-game absence with a sprained left ankle but are still missing All-Star center Jarrett Allen because of a broken finger that has sidelined him nearly a month.

Mobley and Lauri Markkanen both had 17 points.

Durant scored 16 points in the first quarter but the Cavaliers defended well across the middle two periods and were ahead 93-89 early in the fourth. Durant then made a go-ahead 3-pointer during a 10-0 spurt that made it 99-93.

Cleveland got the next two baskets but Durant made another 3 to kick off an 8-0 run that put Brooklyn in control at 107-97 with about 4 1/2 minutes remaining.

Durant was 6 for 7 in the first quarter and the Cavaliers barely outscored him, with the Nets leading 34-19. But he missed all three shots in the second and the Cavs worked their way back into it, getting within five before Brooklyn took a 62-54 advantage to the half.

TIP-INS

Cavaliers: Cedi Osman turned 27. ... Former Nets swingman Caris LeVert scored 16 points.

Nets: Coach Steve Nash, on the decision to waive veteran James Johnson on Thursday: “There’s a lot of tough decisions throughout the year, so that’s just another tough one and sometimes it’s a bit unforeseen where things are going to go and the decision was made. So we just have to move on and just keep coaching the group, keep pushing the group.”

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR?

Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he wasn't offended by the notion that top teams in the East might have been angling to avoid the Nets and would rather face his young team.

“I mean, the perception or the reality of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and the pieces that are around this team and the way that they’re coached, you can understand why people would want to do that,” Bickerstaff said. “But I’ll tell you this, if we’re healthy, we’re not a team people want to face.”

SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES

Allen and LeVert, who originally ended up in Indiana before being traded this season to Cleveland, were part of the four-team deal in January 2021 that brought James Harden to Brooklyn.

“It’s amazing. It’s probably been 13 months or something like that it feels like five years,” Nash said. “But happy for those guys doing well, playing on a good team and they’ve found a nice home.”

UP NEXT

Cavaliers: Host Milwaukee on Sunday.

Nets: Host Indiana on Sunday.