Nets Hold Lead Against More Physical Cavaliers In a convincing win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, the Nets may have learned more about their team's weaknesses than its strengths. The Nets rolled to a 114-101 victory, but the ease with which Cleveland's wild-haired center, Anderson Varejao, was able to dominate Brooklyn's front line raised a number of questions about how the Nets can compete against teams that have dominant big men. "Everybody is not as excited about the Brooklyn Nets as we are," Coach Avery Johnson said before the game. They want to come in and get a win and rain on our parade. For us, there is a responsibility that goes along with that. His team delivered on the goal of protecting its house, soundly beating a struggling Cleveland team after recovering from a difficult first quarter. For Cleveland, it was the end of a 1-5 trip in which the team visited both coasts. The Nets took advantage, getting a season-high 26 points from Deron Williams and 25 from Joe Johnson, the first time either member of the celebrated backcourt had gone over 20 this season. Brook Lopez added 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, with the three Nets stars erasing Varejao's yeoman effort. Perhaps most encouraging for the Nets was the performance by Johnson, the team's prized off-season acquisition. All of Johnson's points came after a scoreless first quarter, and his night included consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to seal the Nets" win. Before Johnson's shots, the Nets had been 0 for 13 from 3-point range, something that Johnson said did not affect his confidence. "It definitely felt like we played better together today," Williams said of he and Johnson. Hopefully, we can continue to make improvements. At times it was hard to comprehend that the Nets had the lead, thanks to Varejao, who scored 35 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, asserting himself from the start. Avery Johnson had expressed concern about Varejao and Tristan Thompson before the game. "Their big guys inside gave us some problems last year with their physicality," Johnson said. If we're not ready to put on our hard hat against Thompson and Varejao, then we're going to be in trouble. We've got to be really physical with those guys. The offensive outburst was hard to predict, however, as it was only Varejao's sixth career game of 20 or more points and obliterated his career high of 26. "I was just trying to be active and tried to be aggressive on offense," Varejao said. I was just doing what the coach was telling me to do, which was playing hard and playing physical. Lopez held his own, at least on the offensive end, but he and Kris Humphries were unable to stop Varejao, only getting a reprieve when Cavaliers Coach Byron Scott removed Varejao for a large portion of the second quarter. Once again, things turned around for the Nets when the team switched to its second unit. Brooklyn's bench, which has dubbed itself the Bench Mob, brought an energy level, and a toughness, that had otherwise been lacking. Reggie Evans and Andray Blatche solidified things defensively, and the Nets flourished offensively. "We are working with Humphries and Lopez to watch them and see how they work defensively on the floor," Johnson said of Evans and Blatche. If they start performing like that, we can have four guys playing well defensively. On Varejao's big night, Kyrie Irving, Cleveland's best player, finished with 34 points and 8 assists but came away frustrated by another loss. "They hit us in the mouth on both ends of the floor and we were not executing," Irving said. We got in a hole and it is hard to fight back, especially against a great team like Brooklyn. Scott, who coached the Nets for four seasons, taking the team to the N.B.A. finals twice, was visiting the new arena for the first time and seemed impressed with it compared with the arena the franchise called home in his time with the team. "I'm glad that it finally happened for them," said Scott, who last coached the Nets in 2003-4. I thought when it was proposed then that it would happen a lot sooner. But for the Nets to make anyone forget the Scott-led teams of the early 2000s, they will have to figure out a way to contain opposing centers. MarShon Brooks and Gerald Wallace continued to sit out with ankle injuries. No return date for either player was announced. ... Having grown up in New Jersey, Kyrie Irving was asked if he was once a Nets fan. He smiled and said, "I was a Net fan until Coach Scott left," drawing laughs.