Lopez Leads Nets to 104-95 Victory Over Cavs

(BROOKLYN) — Brook Lopez had 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead the Nets to a thrilling, but surprising 104-95 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Trailing 92-90 in the fourth quarter, the Nets (20-51) scored 14 straight points to secure the win.  Markel Brown, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, and Lopez were the key catalysts in the spurt, which sent the pro-Nets crowd at Barclays Center into a frenzy with every made shot during crunch time.

Cleveland was playing on the second night of a back-to-back and it showed, as they shot 4-for-21 from the field in the fourth quarter and missed 28 three-point attempts on the night.  The Nets held Cleveland to just 12 total points in the period, which was the fewest points for any Brooklyn opponent in the fourth quarter all season.  LeBron James led the way for the Cavaliers with 30 points, six rebounds and five assists, but went scoreless in the final period on o-for-2 shooting.

Both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love struggled for the Cavs.  Irving shot 6-for-22 from the field and Love went 5-for-14.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson played well in his second game back from injury, finishing with 10 points, seven boards and three steals.  Shane Larkin and Sergey Karasev started in place of Donald Sloan and Wayne Ellington.  In his first start since January 9., Larkin played stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points and seven assists.

Up next, the Nets play host to Paul George and the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.

Notes: In the fourth quarter, Lopez passed Vince Carter for second place on the franchise’s all-time leading scoring list with 8,835 points.  Buck Williams is the team’s all-time leading scorer with 10,440.

The Nets unveiled the logo and uniforms for their NBA D-League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.  The team will debut next season and wear uniforms with a red, white and blue color scheme.  The Long Island Nets will play at Barclays Center next season before moving to Nassau Coliseum in 2017-18.