Cavs one win from ending Nets season

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Cleveland Cavaliers regained control of the Eastern Conference semifinals by making New Jersey’s Big Three look awfully small.

LeBron James had 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and the Cavaliers moved one victory from their first conference finals appearance in 15 years by beating the Nets 87-85 in Game 4 on Monday night

Larry Hughes added 19 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who put themselves in position to wrap up the best-of-7 series at home Wednesday night.

Cleveland made the last of its two conference finals appearances in 1992. The Cavs fell one win short last year, dropping the final two games to Detroit in the Eastern semifinals.

Cleveland will be safe this time unless the Nets become the ninth NBA team to erase a 3-1 deficit. And that won’t happen unless Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson shoot better than they did Monday.

Carter had 25 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, but shot 6 for 23 from the field. Kidd wasted his career playoff-high 17-rebound performance by shooting 2 for 13 and scoring five points, while Jefferson had 15 points but was only 3 of 12 from the field.

New Jersey had only three field goals in the fourth quarter and couldn’t even get off a shot that would have tied it. With Eric Snow defending him, Carter lost the ball out of bounds with 1.9 seconds left and the Nets trailing by two.

Mikki Moore kept New Jersey in it with a career playoff-best 25 points. He had two of the Nets’ three baskets in the fourth quarter, when the Big Three were a combined 1 for 13.

But Moore battled foul trouble, even picking up a flagrant for sending Sasha Pavlovic to the floor in the third quarter, and he was on the bench for much of the final period, when the Nets couldn’t manage another field goal after his three-point play gave them a 76-75 lead with 6:58 to play.

Meanwhile, James bounced back after he was held to 18 points, his lowest in a playoff game, in the Nets’ Game 3 win.

Cavs reserve forward Donyell Marshall played despite hurting his left ankle when he stepped on another player’s foot in the closing minutes of Game 3.

The Nets had their 10-game home winning streak snapped.