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Nets hope to continue home dominance, host Cavs

Mar 28, 2014 - 2:00 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Brooklyn Nets are getting closer to setting the franchise mark for consecutive wins at home.

The Nets aim for their 12th straight victory at the Barclays Center Friday versus the Cleveland Cavaliers and the franchise record is 13 set twice during 2002.

Brooklyn, which has a 23-11 record at Barclays Center, is 18-2 in its last 20 home games and hasn't lost on its floor since Jan. 31 versus Oklahoma City.

While the Nets have blossomed at home, the road has been a different issue. The Nets lost the last two portions of a three-game road to New Orleans and Charlotte, and are just 2-4 in the past six away games. In Wednesday's 116-111 overtime loss to the Bobcats, Deron Williams led the way with 29 points and seven assists, while Mirza Teletovic and Joe Johnson scored 22 and 18 points, respectively.

Chris Douglas-Roberts put the dagger into Brooklyn with a big shot toward the end of overtime and Al Jefferson racked up 35 points and 15 rebounds. The Nets were outscored 11-6 in overtime.

"I thought the defense was great, but in the end, we come up with a blocked shot, the ball bounces, and you know CDR (Douglas-Roberts), he makes a shot with the shot clock winding down and so everybody executed," said Nets head coach Jason Kidd. "The ball just bounced their way tonight."

Kidd hopes the ball bounces back to Brooklyn on this upcoming three-game homestand versus Cleveland, Minnesota and Houston.

The Nets are fifth in the Eastern Conference -- 2 1/2 games behind Toronto and Chicago for the third spot and 1 1/2 games ahead of Washington.

In milestone news, Johnson is 19 points shy of becoming the 15th active player to score 17,000 points. Johnson has scored 15 or more points in each of the last seven games.

Nets guard Marcus Thornton (back) is questionable Friday.

Cleveland will try to stretch its winning streak to four games against the Nets and is unbeaten over the last three after losing four straight and eight of 10 contests.

The Cavaliers are coming off Wednesday's 97-96 victory over the Detroit Pistons, as Dion Waiters buried the game-winning basket as time expired and finished with 18 points. The Cavs trailed by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter and outscored Detroit 31-14 in the stanza.

Waiters' baseline shot capped a 10-0 run.

"I knew that it was good when I let it go," said Waiters, who is averaging 22.8 points in his six recent starts. "I was comfortable, he (Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey) let me get to my patented move almost. It was up to me just to make a shot."

The shot was the first buzzer-beater for the Cavs since Mo Williams beat the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 24, 2010.

Matthew Dellavedova scored a career-high 21 points, Jarrett Jack added 17 and Anderson Varejao was a force off the bench with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Jack is averaging 16.7 points in his last six games for the Cavs, whose bench posted a 45-17 advantage.

Cavs head coach Mike Brown has 301 wins with the Cavs and Bill Fitch (304) is next on the list. Lenny Wilkins had 316 wins with Cleveland.

Cleveland, which has won four of five road games and is 13-24 away from home, is still alive in the playoff chase at three games behind Atlanta for the eighth spot. New York is 1 1/2 games off the pace.

The Cavs and Nets have split a pair of meetings this season with each team holding serve as the host. The Nets have won five of the past six in this series and are unbeaten in the previous four home meetings.