Brooklyn @ Cleveland preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 3, 2018 ) Cleveland 99, Brooklyn 97

The Brooklyn Nets took one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference down to the wire on Monday but ended up suffering their fifth loss in the last six games. The Nets will try to snap out of the funk and take some momentum into the All-Star break when they visit the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

Brooklyn came within a missed 3-point attempt at the buzzer of toppling the Toronto Raptors in a 127-125 setback and is pleased with the team's progress despite the recent results. "We're obviously disappointed," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters. "Tough loss. But I told the guys we came up here two months ago and got our tails handed to us, and I thought tonight we represented ourselves well." Brooklyn is much further along on the rebuilding curve than the Cavaliers, who sit in 14th place in the East and avoided the basement by winning a showdown against the NBA-worst New York Knicks 107-104 on Monday. Rookie point guard Collin Sexton led the way with 20 points for Cleveland, which snapped a four-game slide.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), FS Ohio (Cleveland)

ABOUT THE NETS (29-29): Brooklyn won 20 of 26 games to pull four games over .500 on Jan. 29 but is integrating several pieces back into the rotation after long injury layoffs and is struggling to find the right combinations. Shooting guard Allen Crabbe missed 26 games before returning last week and logged 31 minutes off the bench at Toronto, scoring 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting. "It's just the mindset, really," Crabbe told reporters. "That's always been one of my biggest things that kind of held me back. Some nights, I'll be aggressive and some nights I won't. But I'm trying to get comfortable like the way I was playing before I got hurt."

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (12-45): Cleveland forward Kevin Love played in four games before going down with a foot injury, destroying the team's chances of remaining competitive after the departure of superstar LeBron James. Love returned to the lineup this week and played 16 minutes against the Knicks on Monday, collecting 14 points and nine rebounds while going 4-of-10 from the floor. "It felt pretty good to get back out there," Love, who played six minutes in his return at Washington on Friday, told reporters. "I feel like I got in some sort of a rhythm. I enjoyed tonight, especially being back home."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Cleveland SG Nik Stauskas went 1-of-9 from the floor in his team debut on Monday.

2. Nets SF Joe Harris went 7-of-8 from 3-point range on Monday.

3. The road team took the last three in the series, with Brooklyn earning a 102-86 victory at Cleveland on Oct. 24.

PREDICTION: Nets 111, Cavaliers 103