CLEVELAND — Devin Harris may soon want to be embraced by LeBron James.
But not quite the way it went down last night.
James quickly grabbed Harris and yanked him away from fallen Cavalier Jamario Moon, who had been roughly fouled and sent sprawling by the Nets point guard. The play led to Harris’ ejection on a night where the supposed cupcake Nets gave the Cavs all they wanted before falling 99-89 here.
“At that point, he was just trying to break it up,” Harris (22 points, 3 assists) said of LeBron’s intervention. “I don’t like too many people grabbing me in a huddle like that, but he knows I ain’t trying to hurt anybody. But he has to protect his teammates just like everybody has to do on my team.”
The Nets, again without starter Chris Douglas-Roberts (knee), were down 11 at the time and with just 3:48 left, it’s doubtful Harris’ absence did them in — that happened before. But the sequence, which could result in a suspension for Harris if a league review finds it warranted, added some intrigue.
Harris saw the ball poked from his control by Shaquille O’Neal (16 points) and Moon was headed for a breakaway. Harris raced, nailed Moon around the head and neck, sending him to the floor.
“I wasn’t trying to [hurt him],” said Harris, one of three Net 20-point scorers — Brook Lopez (22, but just two after halftime) and Rafer Alston (20) were the others. “It was just the fall, I tried to not let him get the ball up, but he did kind of fall hard.”
So James grabbed Harris and the refs grabbed a replay monitor. After review, they deemed Harris indeed used “unnecessary and excessive” contact. Harris was ejected. Dirty play?
“Not at all. I’ve never known him to make dirty plays. I don’t think it was dirty at all. It was a basketball play,” said Moon. “It wasn’t as bad as it looked.”
James (23 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) admitted he did not see intent to injure. But he was just being a good teammate.
“I don’t think he intentionally went for his head. But he caught it and that’s a play we cannot have,” said James. “Devin’s not a bad player or dirty player. He’s never been that type of guy. But it’s my teammate so I got to be able to protect him.”
Harris showed his team support Monday when he took the entire team out for a players-only steak dinner and picked up the tab. A bonding thing. And maybe — longest of long shots — the Nets may be bonding with James through free agency. So LeBron, what did you think of the Nets?
“They’re an NBA team,” he began with a point that has been subject to debate.
“You can’t go into a game saying this team only has two wins. That’s when you get bit,” said James, who snuffed the Nets when he scored seven straight points for a 70-61 lead in the third after the Nets got within two — they never got closer than seven after that.
“We played well, played very hard,” said interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe. “We got a lot of easy shots. We didn’t knock down a lot of them.”
⇒Harris on Monday’s dinner that avoided recent controversies: “We talked about everything but that. It was a good chance for guys to catch up just talking.” . . . Chris Douglas-Roberts (knee) and Keyon Dooling (hip) were out last night and will both be out tonight vs. the Jazz. They’re aiming for a Friday return in Toronto. . . . Stitches were removed from Yi Jianlian’s lip and mouth yesterday. He’ll start practicing Monday, and hopes to play week from today. . . . Vandeweghe on the difference in preparing for James as a coach, not a GM: “I don’t know, I’m not guarding him. That’s not saying anything. I never guarded anybody anyway.” . . . Lopez (22 points, 15 rebounds) had his fifth straight double-double, 14th overall.