Game 20 Preview: Nets (6-13) at Cleveland Cavaliers (7-10)

Kyrie Irving has been a sensation so far in his rookie year, can the Nets stop him?   Joshua Gunter, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer

UPDATE: Mehmet Okur (back) and Marshon Brooks (Achilles) are out tonight with injuries, Shelden Williams and Anthony Morrow will replace watch of them respectively.

The Nets look to continue their momentum from the team's huge overtime win in Philadelphia on Wednesday win a another road game against the Cavs, a team the Nets lost to on New Year's Day in a particularly poor effort. Marshon Brooks looks to be another game-time decision for this one but according to numerous reports, there's a better chance of him not playing than there is of him being able to play but its very close to 50-50 either way.

Background on Cleveland
Obviously, the Cavs are still a team in rebuilding mode after star hometown boy Lebron James took his talents to South Beach to join the Heat the summer before last. However, the rebuilding mode has been accelerated by the team's most recent draft in which they netted franchise point guard Kyrie Irving 1st overall and power forward Tristan Thompson 4th overall. Cleveland isn't good right now, but in a few years with even more draft picks added to the fray, they might become a team to watch in the East.

Previous Game

The Cavs shut down a potent Knicks' offense on Thursday en route to a 91-81 victory over a reeling Knicks team that looks dreadful right now. The win snapped a 6-game losing streak for Cleveland and brought their season record to 7-10 in addition to placing them in the #8 seed in the East in the last playoff spot. The Cavs were able to overcome the Knicks with their balanced scoring attack in which 8 of the 10 players who played on Thursday scored at least 7 points. Anderson Varejao led the rebounding effort for Cleveland with 16 boards, giving him a double-double on the night.

The Nets are also coming off of a big win as they upset the Atlantic Division-leading 76ers in Philly on Thursday night. Entering the game, Philly was 9-1 on their home court but the Nets, mainly led by Deron Williams, added a L to that record with a 97-90 overtime win. Deron posted a 34-point, 11-assist effort against Philly. He also kept the Nets in the game by hitting the game-tying layup at the end of regulation and the game-winning three in overtime.

Probable Lineups 
NJN- D.Williams (PG), Brooks (SG), Stevenson (SF), Humphries (PF), Okur (C)

CLE- Irving (PG), Parker (SG), Casspi (SF), Jamison (PF), Varejao (C)

Three Keys to a Nets Victory

1. Force someone not named Kyrie to score the ball- Irving has been wonderful so far in the NBA and he, like Deron Williams for the Nets, runs basically the whole offense through himself and is by far Cleveland's most dangerous player. Sure they also have Antawn Jamison and Anthony Parker, but if the Nets are able to limit Kyrie's points and force one of the supporting scorers to lead their team, then the Nets have a great chance at a win.

2.Guard the perimeter- In the Nets' New Year's loss to Cleveland, the Cavs scored 48 of their 98 points on three-pointers and that truly can't happen again. Guys like Alonzo Gee and Daniel Gibson made 3+ three-pointers each for the Cavs in that game on widely uncontested shots. That simply can't happen again tonight as the Nets will have no shot at victory if Cleveland gets open three-point attempts which would lead the Nets to overcompensate on defense leaving the paint open for the Cavs' bigs like Varejao and Tristan Thompson.

3.Limit the turnovers- On New Year's, the Nets committed an atrocious 21 turnovers, with 6 coming from Deron, which led to 25 Cavs points. Turnovers have been a problem area for the Nets the whole season and a good stop that bad trend is against a poor team like Cleveland.

Prediction
I'm feeling really confident in this Nets' squad coming off the huge Philly win so I'll say the Nets win this one 102-89. Let's Go Nets!