EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—Saturday afternoon at the IZOD Center, the Nets looked great for a quarter, pretty good for a half, and ordinary for the one after that. In the end, they were the 11th team to lose to the Cavaliers in 14 games, joining the Hawks as teams twice defeated during a 13-1 surge that has left Cleveland atop the Eastern Conference at 27-8.

Led by 22 points and six assists from Devin Harris – not to mention 20 points, seven boards and four assists from Brook Lopez – the Nets (3-30) hung with the Cavaliers for 3 ½ quarters, only being put away for good when Cleveland ripped off an 8-0 run to push a four-point margin to 12 with 2 minutes, 40 seconds to play. The Nets held the Cavs to .395 shooting overall (.300 3P%), but allowed 16 offensive rebounds, which muted the stingy defense and resulted in a 52-32 advantage for Cleveland on points in the point.

“We kept playing hard defense (and) we stopped them,” said Nets coach and GM Kiki Vandeweghe. “They took some bad shots, but they got the offensive rebounds. That’s really what stopped us because we were playing good defense for the most part and we played good defense for most of the second half. I’m encouraged, but you’ve got to take this as a learning experience knowing this is one of the best teams in the NBA. We need a really, really good effort if we’re going to beat them.”

It looked like the Nets were getting it when they held a 26-19 lead after one, behind eight points each from Lopez, Harris and Chris Douglas-Roberts, who finished with 16 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The second-year swingman had long awaited his first professional matchup with LeBron James (28 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks), whom he described as a “big cousin” he’s been friends with since the 22-year-old Douglas-Roberts was a high school sophomore.

Douglas-Roberts opened the game guarding James, and the duo went head-to-head for all 12 minutes of the opening period, though neither scored until it was halfway through. James put points on the board first, throwing down a dunk in transition, and Douglas-Roberts one-upped him a few possessions later, reverse-dunking off an unbelievably smooth inbounds give-and-go with Lopez.

When the Cavs reset their offense after rebounding an Anthony Parker jumper, James saw an opening and drove for a vicious one-handed side-tomahawk all over Lopez. Harris attempted to respond with a three, and Douglas-Roberts corralled the miss before sinking a pullup. He hit another, and shortly after drove for a layup set up by a dribble handoff from Lopez. Douglas-Roberts nearly added a fifth bucket when he shook the defense with a behind-the-back crossover dribble, but the reverse layup rolled off the rim.

“I’m not going to back down from anybody,” Douglas-Roberts said. “He knows that, he knows me. I always plan on having a successful game. I never think about not playing well. I always feel like I’m going to come out and play well.”

Unable to maintain his offensive flow after a three-minute second-quarter stint on the bench, Douglas-Roberts settled in for providing what defense he could against James, smartly looking for the help and passing James off to teammates as necessary.

The Nets’ offense was further hampered when Yi Jianlian struggled on offense for the first time since returning from injury five games ago. The 7-foot forward shot only 2-of-13 and seemed less aggressive, unable to shoot well enough to prevent Cleveland’s bigs from playing him to drive.

“I missed a lot of shots, man,” Yi said. “The shots did not feel good .They did not allow me to drive to the basket, just a very good job of making me think about it. It’s different from the other teams: they always have two bigs inside. That makes it hard to get to the basket.”

That’s a distinct shift in perceptions of Yi’s game, and a direct result of four games that featured more finished moves at the rim than it felt Yi had made in two seasons combined. If the previous stretch proves not to be aberrant, Yi need only shoot well enough to keep the defense honest for the Nets to become tough to guard. Lopez’s post game, Harris’ stop-and-pop/drive-and-kick action and Douglas-Roberts’ slashing have all proved effective and one more weapon could be enough to carry the Nets offensively most nights.

Despite the off-night shooting, Yi hung in and pulled in eight rebounds while turning back three shots. He even nailed a catch-and-shoot three from the top of the key to open the scoring for the Nets in the fourth quarter, after two empty possessions.

“He stayed with it, he kept fighting,” Vandeweghe said. “Your shot’s not going to be there every single night. He hit a big three for us. I was happy he took it. He kept fighting on the boards, he kept playing hard. That’s why he played.”

NETS NOTES: Jarvis Hayes was a surprise scratch, with Vandeweghe saying that he made the call after yesterday’s practice, telling Hayes he’d rather get the swingman a few extra practices and debut him against the Bucks on Tuesday (Buy Tickets).

Hayes had been prepared to play after missing 32 games with a strained left hamstring, and seemed bummed, but understanding: “I feel good,” Hayes said. “But a couple of extra couple of days of practice won’t hurt. I’ve been out two months so an extra two days is not going to make a difference.”

Late in the fourth, Harris fouled James in transition, and appeared to have prevented a layup by wrapping him up. But the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James was able to muscle through the contact and flip up a layup on continuation. The ball dropped through the net, and James hit the free throw to cap the game-deciding 8-0 run.

“I thought I did (get him)!” Harris said, laughing in his disbelief. “But it was like... I didn't even see the ball go in. You do what you can at that point, but he's a strong guy.”

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