Nets Push Past Depleted Cavaliers 104-99

Richard Jefferson scored 24 points, leading six New Jersey Nets players in double figures as the team shot 51.3% (39-76) from the floor for the game as they defeated a depleted Cleveland Cavaliers team Wednesday night 104-99. Cleveland with neither of their centers Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace able to play because of each having sore backs were just no match for the Nets. Cleveland had to put a relatively small starting lineup, as they started Joe Smith and Anderson Varejao, instead of Z and ”Big Ben.”

New Jersey basically ran away and hid during the game’s first quarter, and Cleveland could never quite catch up. The Nets broke out to a 38-23 lead at the end of the first period. Cleveland got to within five points as LeBron James hit a 26 foot trey to make it a 49-44 game with 3:54 left in the quarter. But New Jersey pulled away again and Cleveland was down by a score of 58-47 as the game reached the half. New Jersey started the third quarter on a 10-2 run, and they pulled ahead 68-49. Cleveland never really recovered as they never got closer than 9 points down the rest of the period and the Nets led 80-67 with 12 minutes remaining. Cleveland never came close to threatening in the fourth.

Jefferson scored 24 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, in the New Jersey victory. Bostjan Nachbar came up big again off the bench scoring 21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, Devin Harris scored 19 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 block. Vince Carter scored 14 points, 8 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, Josh Boone scored 13 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block. Nenad Krstic scored 10 points, 4 assists, 1 rebound.

LeBron James had another monster game as he recorded a double-double, but it wasn’t enough. LBJ scored a game high 42 points, grabbed 11 boards, 7 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal. Devin Brown came off the bench as coach Mike Brown chose to start the returning Sash Pavlovic. Brown scored 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, Damon Jones scored 12 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal. New Jersey snapped a five game losing streak with the win. They are now 27-38, Cleveland is 37-28.