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CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers took full advantage of their home-court advantage. Lamond Murray drilled a 3-pointer as time expired as the Cavaliers rallied for a 100-97 victory over the New Jersey Nets, who continued to struggle away from home. After squandering a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Nets looked like they would reach overtime after Keith Van Horn sank a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 97-97 with five-tenths of a second left. But after a timeout, Cleveland was able win in dramatic fashion with some help from the clock operator. Murray shook free from Kenyon Martin, received the inbounds pass from Andre Miller in the left corner and sank the winning shot while unguarded. Television replays showed the clock was delayed in starting and the Nets argued to no avail. "There's no way you can catch the ball, face the basket and shoot the ball in five-tenths of a second," Van Horn said. "It's been proven. Someone needs to be repriemanded for it and the league needs to look at it. I don't think we were cheated out of a victory, we were cheated out of an opportunity to win the game." Nets president and general manager Rod Thorn, who was the NBA's executive vice president of operations before taking his current position with New Jersey, had his own view on the play. "A lot of times the clock doesn't get turned on for whatever reason and the refs know what you could do in three-tenths, four-tenths, five-tenths and so on," Thorn said. "That's part of their training. In their mind, he (Murray) got the shot off. "But when you look at it, the ball was laying flat on his hand after five-tenths. He hadn't even gone through his motion yet. When you catch the ball sideways, it's impossible to do that. That's just unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable." Murray offered his view on the winning play. "We set the play to go inside to (Zydrunas) Ilgauskas for a tip-in off a back screen," Murray said. "The play didn't work. I think Kenyon (Martin) was guarding me. He went to help on 'Z' (Ilgauskas) because he's so tall. He left me open in the corner. I just tried to get the shot up as quick as possible and it went in." Jason Kidd recorded his seventh triple-double of the season and 45th career with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Nets, who lost for the eighth time in their last nine road contests. New Jersey had its lead in the Atlantic Division reduced to four games over Boston. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had has best game in over a year for the Cavs as he finished with a season-high 26 points and 14 rebounds. Trying to end their struggles away from Continental Airlines Arena and sweep the Cavs in a season series for the first time since 1982-83, the Nets opened an 81-74 lead with 8:37 remaining on a pair of free throws by Van Horn, who finished with 27 points. But the Cavs fought back, pulling within 86-85 with 5 1/2 minutes play on a running jumper by Murray. Ilgauskas, who has battled foot problems throughout his career, became the Cavs' go-to guy down the stretch. His three-point play with 3:05 left gave the Cavs a 91-90 lead. He also made a short jumper and followed with a turnaround, making it 95-92 with 1:54 left. Ilgauskas had his way with the Nets' frontcourt the entire night. The 7-3 Lithunian made 6-of-16 shots from the field, went 14-of-17 from the line and posed matchup problems for the Nets, who still are without injured 7-footer Todd MacCulloch. Ilgauskas finished with his most points in a game since he tallied 24 against Dallas on December 12, 2000. Kidd, who was matched against Andre Miller, sank a jumper with 33 seconds to play to make it a one-point game. On the Cavs' ensuing possession, Kidd knocked the ball away from Miller. Following a timeout, Kidd threw up a wild jumper and Wesley Person made two foul shots with 3.9 seconds left, giving Cleveland a 97-94 lead. Just like Kidd, Miller had an outstanding night for his team as he finished with 23 points and 14 assists. Murray added 17 points and Person 12 for Cleveland, which shot 41 percent (25-of-84) and held a 42-40 rebounding advantage. Not known for his scoring, Kidd tried to carry the Nets in the first half. The All-Star point guard had 19 points in the half and handed out seven assists, but the contest was tied at 52-52. New Jersey shot 57 percent (21-of-37) in the half. Miller had 13 points and 11 assists and Ilgauskas 11 and 11 rebounds in the half, keeping Cleveland in it. Kerry Kittles netted 12 points for the Nets, who cooled down in the second half and finished at 45 percent (37-of-82). |
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