NEW YORK -- After three long games on the road, the Brooklyn Nets made quick work of Cleveland back at home. Paul Pierce scored 17 of his 22 points in a flawless first quarter, and the Nets pulled away in the second on the way to their 12th straight home victory, 108-97 over the Cavaliers on Friday night. "It was great for him to come out and get us started and get us going, and then that second group kind of finished it off," Nets guard Deron Williams said. Joe Johnson added 14 points for the Nets, who played three straight overtime games on their road trip, losing the last two of them. But things were much easier inside Barclays Center, where they won for the 19th time in their last 21 games. "It sure beats us getting booed earlier in the year," Pierce said. "So were playing well here. We feel comfortable on our home turf." The Nets are hoping to open the playoffs here, but still have work to do to catch either Toronto or Chicago for home-court advantage in the first round. They are 2 1/2 games behind the Raptors for first place in the Atlantic Division and 1 1/2 behind the Bulls for the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference. The Nets were without Kevin Garnett for a 15th straight game because of back spasms and Andrei Kirilenko for a third in a row because of a sprained left ankle, but had six players score in double figures and shot 55 per cent from the field. They scored the first 12 points of the second quarter to break away from a 29-all tie, and Cleveland never put much of a dent in the lead. Brooklyn had a 48-18 advantage in bench points in improving to 28-12 since Jan. 1, best in the East. "Thats who we are. If were going to go anywhere in this playoffs, were a team full of depth. Weve got a number of guys that can beat you on any given night, its not really surrounded around one particular guy," Pierce said. "Tonight I was our leading scorer, but then it can be somebody else tomorrow, the next game and thats what makes us so dangerous." Luol Deng and Dion Waiters each scored 20 points for the Cavaliers, who had won three in a row. They had pulled off a pair of big fourth-quarter comebacks during the win streak, beating Detroit on Wednesday on Waiters jumper as time expired, but there was no run in this one. "Ive come to the conclusion of expecting more from us. Thats whats disappointing," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "Its disappointing to play the way we did tonight. Its tough to swallow." Williams and Alan Anderson each scored 13 points for Brooklyn, which improved to 11-4 this month and can tie the franchise record for most victories in March by beating Minnesota here Sunday night. Williams made a 3-pointer and Pierce hit two straight for a 9-0 Brooklyn lead, and Pierce was 4 for 4 before the first was half over. But Spencer Hawes and Deng led a solid finish to the quarter that allowed Cleveland to tie it at 29. The Nets were even better to open the second, scoring 12 straight to make it 41-29 on Andersons 3-pointer. The lead reached 17 on a 3-pointer by Pierce with 2:05 remaining, and Brooklyn took a 61-50 lead into halftime. Six players had at least four points in the quarter. Cleveland cut Brooklyns 16-point lead in the third in half by the end of the quarter, but the Nets quickly regained control by opening the fourth with an 8-1 spurt for a 15-point cushion. "Weve got to do a better job coming out in the first quarter," Waiters said, "not always falling down by a big margin." NOTES: Brooklyns Jorge Gutierrez made some money and lost some Friday. Shortly after the Nets signed him to a multiyear deal after the expiration of his second 10-day contract, the rookie point guard was fined $15,000 by the NBA for making excessive contact above the shoulders when he fouled Charlottes Cody Zeller on Wednesday. ... After opening the season against each other with the Cavs win in Cleveland on Oct. 30, they will finish things off in the same spot on April 16. Vapormax Hvid Dame Danmark .com) - Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combined for 51 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder took down the struggling Bucks 114-101 on Tuesday. Vapormax Dame Danmark .The other side of the Bruins special teams unit delivered in the end.Gregory Campbell netted the game-winner with less than 10 minutes remaining and the Bruins fended off a late four-minute San Jose power play to earn a wild 5-3 win over the Sharks. http://www.vapormaxdanmark.com/.C. - Brent Sutter scored 1:32 into extra time as the Charlotte Checkers came from behind to defeat the visiting Abbotsford Heat 5-4 on Sunday in American Hockey League action. Vapormax Sort Danmark . Erik Cole scored on a breakaway with 4:49 to play, and the Stars rallied to defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Saturday night. Vapormax Herre Udsalg . Next years tournament is also within sight for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has never played in a World Cup, but Cristiano Ronaldo looks destined for the playoffs with Portugal after a night when the qualifying picture in the nine groups became much clearer.SHANGHAI, China -- Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic overcame tough challenges in their quarterfinals at the Shanghai Masters on Friday and moved a step closer to a possible showdown in the final. Top-ranked Nadal saved three set points and finally closed out a 20-minute tiebreak in the first set against Switzerlands Stanislas Wawrinka before winning 7-6 (10), 6-1. Djokovic, the defending champion, needed nearly 2 1/2 hours to rally past Frances Gael Monfils 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4. Djokovic and Nadal improved to a combined 20-0 record against the pair. Their semifinal opponents had much easier matches. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-3, and Juan Martin del Potro advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Nicolas Almagro. Tsonga next plays Djokovic, while del Potro meets Nadal. If Djokovic and Nadal do meet in the final, it would be their 39th professional matchup -- and second in as many weeks. Djokovic defeated Nadal last Sunday in the China Open final in Beijing after the Spaniard was assured of retaking the No. 1 ranking from him. Nadal had a lengthy first set against Wawrinka -- a player who had never taken a set off him in 10 matches. After fending off three set points by Wawrinka, the Spaniard hit a cleverly disguised drop shot from the baseline to go up 11-10 in the tiebreak and finally managed to win it on his fourth set point with a forehand winner. "Match in general, first set especially, was very, very hard one," Nadal said. "Positive thing, when he was playing well, I was playing well, too. I was able to resist. If I was not playing well, I was going to lose that set." Djokovic looked out of sorts against Monfils. The Serb hadnt been broken in his two previous matches in Shanghai, but he dropped serve twice in the first three games. "Inexplicably, I started serving quite bad, but not many unforced errors," he said. "Its just sometimes that you start off slowly and youre not feeling the ball as much." Monfils played remarkable defence in the first set, sliding and stretching for every ball and forcing errors. At one point, Djokovic was so frustrated, he clenched his fists and let out a full-throttle scream. "Today was a verry physical match and very intense," he said.dddddddddddd "I knew coming into the match that hes going to run for every ball and hes going to make me play an extra shot. Sometimes I was even surprised with the balls that hes getting back." In the second set, it was Monfils turn to get emotional. Down 3-1, he sprinted after a drop shot and did a split trying to reach it, falling on his back. After lying still for 15 seconds, he finally wandered back to the service line -- and received a time violation. Monfils angrily questioned the umpire about the rule and berated him on the changeover. Then, a couple of games later, he began grimacing in pain and took an injury timeout to have a trainer massage his abdominal muscles. He never recovered, looking increasingly drained in the third set. "It was really tough," said the Frenchman, who ousted Roger Federer in the third round. "I get a bit scared with my abs. It was tough for me to serve full bore. For sure, against Novak, its impossible to win if not serving 100 per cent." Meanwhile, Del Potro and Tsonga each spent a little over an hour on the court. Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, moved back into the top five in the rankings on Monday for the first time in more than three years. He believes hes capable of challenging Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray for Grand Slam titles again. A win in Shanghai would make a statement: Hes never won a Masters title and he would have to get past Nadal and possibly Djokovic to do so. "I felt close to them in some parts of the year, some matches during this year, like in Wimbledon (where he lost in a five-set semifinal to Djokovic), or when I beat Djokovic (and) Murray in Indian Wells," he said. Tsonga is also on the comeback trail. He missed several months with a knee injury and also parted ways with his coach, Roger Rasheed, after less than a year. Hes slipped to No. 9 in the rankings -- his lowest position in two years. Tsonga believes he has a good shot against Djokovic, despite losing their past eight matches. "I think he has lost more matches this year than the other years, so maybe its an opportunity for me," Tsonga said. ' ' '