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Nets hold LeBron scoreless in the 4th and defeat the Cavs, 104-95

By Anthony Puccio
Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- The Nets took a step in the right direction on Thursday night when they held a press conference about the Long Island Nets, their soon-to-be D-League affiliate that will eventually play in the Islanders old home, Nassau Coliseum.

Slowly but surely, the Nets are making wiser decisions so they can avoid a repeat of this season sometime in the future.

It was all smiles for the Nets who presented the sparkling red, white and blue coloring, while Sean Marks discussed the importance in developing players in the D-League. All smiles.

And then they had to play the game... and the smiles continued. The Nets pretty much controlled the tempo the entire game and defeated the Cavs, 104-95, after holding LeBron James scoreless in the fourth quarter.

The young bucks of Brooklyn looked hungry against LeBron and the Cavs to start. They gained a 13-point lead in the second quarter behind the hefty play of Shane Larkin (16 points, 7 assists) and Brook Lopez.

As expected, however, the Cavs came back with a strong third quarter and outscored the Nets 34-21. LeBron James had 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting entering the fourth, which is never a good sign.

The Cavs regained control with a 92-90 lead midway through the quarter.

But it was the spirited, young bucks of Brooklyn that changed the game. The Nets answered with an 11-0 run and took a nine-point lead with two minutes remaining. As for LeBron James... He was held scoreless in the fourth quarter and took only two shots. The Cavs as a whole were limited to just 12 points in the fourth.

The dagger: Brook Lopez and-one on LeBron James. Just how we all predicted.

Lopez finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He also passed Vince Carter for 2nd All-Time for most points scored in Nets history with 8,835 points.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored eight points in the 4th and helped keep the Nets afloat for nearly half the quarter. The rookie finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals in 15 minutes. He told reporters last game that his restriction was 14-16 minutes per game, so he was forced to check out earlier than most wished.  Post-game, shooting coach David Nurse made sure to let RHJ know they had shooting practice Friday.

Before the game, Sean Marks told reporters, "As many of you are aware, we're short one or two draft picks" essentially laying out how he wants to use D-League affiliate to develop players. Well, he's hit a homerun on his first attempt with Sean Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick scored in double digits for the seventh straight game with 10 points in 22 minutes. The man ahead of him in the lineup, Bojan Bogdanovic, finished with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting.

Hey, things may not be all that great but I'll take a team that fights like this over the team we were watching back in December ANY day of the week. It's been a lot of fun.

Next up: Indiana Pacers, Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.

For more on the Cleveland Cavaliers, check them out at Fear The Sword.

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