The New Jersey Nets look to even up the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game-Four tonight at Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands before the series shifts back to Cleveland for Game-Five on Wednesday. The Nets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 96-85 in Game-Three. New Jersey now trails the best-of-seven series 2-1. Tip-off for tonight’s game is at 7 p.m. ET.
A major factor for the Nets in Saturday’s wi n was cleaning up the rebound discrepancy. The Nets were out-rebounded 100-69 in games 1 and 2, including 39-12 on the offensive end. New Jersey won the battle 43-20, including an advantage of 11-5 on offensive boards. Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson all scored 23 points and Kidd notched his 11th career playoff triple-double, adding 14 assists and 13 rebounds to his 23 points. Kidd also nailed five-of-six from three-point land. The Cavaliers had won six straight Playoff games and had run off ten consecutive victories overall, but the Nets played like a team with their backs to the wall in bringing the Cavaliers down.
The Cavaliers were led by Larry Hughes , who netted 23 points of his own, 14 in the second half. Hughes added four boards, a steal and a pair of blocked shot, but also only chipped in with one assist. Hughes was 9-for-20 from the floor including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. LeBron James followed up with 18 points, despite having a sub-par shooting night. James was 5-for-16 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line, adding a team-high 12 assists and six boards.
Online oddsmakers at WagerWeb.com expect the Nets to even things up tonight and have installed them a home favorite with a -3 ½ point chalk with a 185 point total . The cost of a money line (ml) bet on the Nets has good value at -170 while the Cavaliers are getting +150 ml juice.
The majority of the early money (70 %) has been wagered taking the Nets -3 ½ against the spread while 64% of the public like the Nets on the ml. In early totals wagering, 76% of the public favor the OVER 185.
