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Nets, Cavaliers meet in playoff series rematch

Dec 4, 2007 - 3:04 PM New Jersey (8-9) at Cleveland (9-9) 7:00 pm EST

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- There is little doubt the Cleveland Cavaliers miss LeBron James. They don't figure to get much sympathy from the New Jersey Nets, who already have experienced life without a dynamic scorer.

The Nets travel to Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday to meet the Cavaliers for the first time since Cleveland defeated New Jersey in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.

James injured his finger Wednesday in the second quarter of a 109-74 loss at Detroit, and the Cavaliers have struggled since, losing both games in part by averaging just 76 points without their star.

His presence was sorely missed in Sunday's 80-70 loss to the Boston Celtics in which the Cavaliers shot 33 percent from the field and were led in scoring by Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had 12 points. No Cleveland player had more than two assists.

By comparison, James has not had a game this season with less than three assists.

New Jersey is already familiar with life without one of their leading scorers as Vince Carter returned last week after missing five games with a right ankle sprain - all losses - for the Nets.

Since his return, Carter has helped his team go 4-2 and has been particularly dominant over the last three games, averaging 26 points in that time after reaching the 20-point mark in only two of his first six pre-injury contests.