James, Cavs look ready, but Nets come up short

LeBron James looked playoff ready. The New Jersey Nets aren’t quite there yet.

James scored 35 points in 36 minutes and the Cleveland Cavaliers secured home-court advantage for the first round of the NBA playoffs with a 94-76 win Thursday night over the visiting Nets, who blew a chance to inch closer to a postseason berth.

Larry Hughes added 19 points for Cleveland, tied with idle Chicago at 47-32 for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavs have three games left, and they’ll probably have to win them all and hope the Bulls – who own the tiebreaker between the clubs – stumble to avoid a possible first-round matchup against the Miami Heat.

With a few trademark dunks, and more energy than he’s shown in recent weeks, James took over in the third quarter, scoring 15 points when the Cavaliers shot 82 percent (14 of 17) from the field and outscored New Jersey 36-19 to blow it open.

Vince Carter scored 26 points to lead the Nets (37-41), who came in as the East’s No. 7 seed. A victory would have reduced New Jersey’s magic number for clinching a sixth straight playoff appearance to one.