CLEVELAND: As luck would have it, the league’s biggest punching bag dropped into town Friday right about the time the Cavs badly needed to blow off some steam. So they kicked and punched their way out of a losing streak at Quicken Loans Arena.
LeBron James scored 31 points and passed for 11 assists, Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and the Cavs beat the lowly Brooklyn Nets 124-116 after losing six of their last eight games.
The final was closer than it should’ve been because the Nets scored 43 points in the fourth quarter, continuing a trend they have set all season. It’s the third time this season they have scored at least 40 points against the Cavs in the fourth quarter — but they lost all three games.
It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Nets and the 15th in their past 16 games. Perhaps sensing the impending doom, coach Kenny Atkinson rested Brook Lopez and Caris LeVert after already being without Trevor Booker (illness), Joe Harris (sprained ankle) and Jeremy Lin (hamstring).
What was left on the floor was little more than a Development League team, yet the Cavs couldn’t shake them until the second half. They led by as many as 23 in the second half and James “only” had to play 34 minutes after he was over 44 in each of the past four games.
“To get a win makes you feel better,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “Get the taste out of our mouth and just get back on the winning track. We had a great home record before we left on that road trip and coming back we struggled a little bit. But I have every confidence in the world that we’re going to get back on track.”
This was as good of start as any.
Kevin Love scored 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds one day after he was named an All-Star and Tristan Thompson added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
It has been a volatile week for the Cavs, who needed a victory to shift some of the focus off the relationship between James and the rest of the organization. He was terrific again Friday, making 13-of-18 shots and adding five rebounds. Kyle Korver scored 14 points off the bench after a slow start.
Sean Kilpatrick scored 18 points for the Nets and Bojan Bogdanovic scored 17. Atkinson knew before the game he was walking into a trap.
“Putting them on edge isn’t the best thing in the world [for us],” Atkinson said. “But I think Tyronn Lue said it best — they’re a great team.”
Lue reminded his players before Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings they were the defending champs. He is confident eventually they’ll stat playing like it again.
“We’re the champs and right now we’re going through a tough stretch but that’s nothing,” Lue said. “Everybody goes through a tough stretch. Now you got to dig yourself out of it. We’re capable of doing it. We are going to do it. We are the champs, we do have a great team and we have the [fourth] best record in the NBA right now so we got to play like it.
Things will get much more difficult Sunday when the Cavs host Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.