CLEVELAND — Jamario Moon and the Cavaliers took the New Jersey Nets’ best shot Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

The league’s worst team actually played fairly well before succumbing to Cleveland 99-89, with the game’s most memorable sequence resulting in the ejection of Nets guard Devin Harris.

The Cavaliers led 90-79 with just under four minutes to go when Shaquille O’Neal stole the ball near midcourt and passed to a streaking Moon, who was clubbed across the head and neck by Harris.

Harris, who was automatically ejected after receiving a flagrant foul-2, was then pinned against the basket support by LeBron James as the players gathered in one huge scrum.

“That’s my teammate, man,” Moon said of James. “That’s what friends are for.”

Harris said he was only trying to prevent Moon from getting to the basket and wasn’t trying to hurt him, an explanation the Cavaliers forward fully accepted.

“It wasn’t as bad as it looked,” Moon said. “I don’t have a beef. I don’t have a beef with anyone in the league. We don’t dislike one another. I don’t feel like it was intentional.”

Neither did James, but he wanted to send a message that such actions won’t go unnoticed by the Cavaliers (18-7), who won their eighth straight at The Q.

“I don’t think he intentionally went for his head, but he got it,” said James, who finished with 23 points, six rebounds, seven assists and six turnovers. “That’s a play we cannot have.”

As for the game itself, it was surprisingly entertaining considering the Nets are 2-23 on the season.

Up 15 midway through the second period, Cleveland led by only two with 4:09 to go in the third before James reeled off seven straight points.

As is their habit against vastly inferior teams — five of Cleveland’s seven losses are against sub-.500 clubs — the Cavaliers never put New Jersey away, but the outcome was never really in doubt, either.

Still, having to use James for 41 minutes and Mo Williams for 37 could show tonight when Cleveland plays in Philadelphia.

“We got the win,” coach Mike Brown said. “It was an ugly win. It was a slow game, but we’ll take it.”

The Cavaliers got an excellent night from their center combination of O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who both finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and five rebounds. That more than offset a 22-point, 15-rebound night by young New Jersey center Brook Lopez, who had just two points and was 0-of-6 from the field in the second half.

Facing a zone defense virtually the entire game, Cleveland also got 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists from Williams, who began the night shooting .923 at the line but went just 1-of-4. Williams was leading the Cavaliers in rebounding until Moon tied him by grabbing one in the closing seconds.

Harris, who overcame a horrible start to finish 7-of-18 from the field, had 22 points for New Jersey, while Rafer Alston scored a bunch late to finish with 20.

The Nets, who are last in the league in scoring and field-goal percentage, shot just .390 for the game (30-of-77) and really struggled once Cleveland kept them off the line. New Jersey attempted 23 free throws in the first half, but just six in the second.

“It was just hard to get into a rhythm,” James said. “They played zone, but we made enough plays and got enough stops.”

The Nets succeeded in dragging the Cavaliers — and the officials and stat crew — down to their level in the first half, which ended with Cleveland up just 52-45.

Lopez already had 20 points and nine boards at that stage, but he gave up just as many, as O’Neal and Ilgauskas combined for 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds in the first half.

There were 28 fouls and 36 free throws in the opening two periods, with Cavaliers power forwards J.J. Hickson, Anderson Varejao and Darnell Jackson accounting for seven of the fouls.

Not to be outdone, the stat crew gave O’Neal, who had seven points in the first 2:50, an assist on an early possession where he clearly had his shot blocked, only to have it land right in Hickson’s hands.

The Nets went to the Hack-a-Shaq routine near the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter, and O’Neal subsequently went 0-of-2 at the line before being replaced by Ilgauskas, who scored the next time down the floor.

Tonight

• Who: Cleveland at Philadelphia
• Time: 7 o’clock
• Where: Wachovia Center
• TV/radio: FS Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

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