When the Nets assembled a star-studded roster worth $190 million in payroll and luxury-tax commitments last offseason, they weren’t expecting a season-long struggle to simply get over .500.
But after Wednesday’s 103-94 victory over the Grizzlies inside Barclays Center lifted the Nets (30-29) over the .500 mark for the first time this season, Brooklyn’s team finally looks capable of living up to its lofty preseason expectations.
“I think with the way we’ve been playing of late, since the All-Star break and since the turn of the new year, this is the Nets team I envisioned from the beginning of the season,” said Paul Pierce of his team, a winner of four straight, six of eight, and 20-8 since the start of 2014.
“Unfortunately it didn’t start out that way, but the way we’re playing now, I really like. When we move the ball, when we play unselfish, when we defend and we rebound, we’re a tough team to match up with for anybody.”
The Nets certainly have been a tough matchup for the Grizzlies and Bulls, who they easily dispatched Monday night, after spending close to three weeks away from Brooklyn.
The Grizzlies and Bulls are two of the six teams besides the Nets that have won at least 70 percent of their games since the start of 2014. But, as they did Monday night against Chicago, the Nets led Memphis (34-26) wire-to-wire, jumping out to an 8-0 lead that eventually ballooned into a 26-5 advantage on an Andray Blatche and-one with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
“The guys played great tonight,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “I thought the energy in the last two games was kind of like a playoff-type situation, playing two similar teams … big, physical, well-coached. I thought the guys played great.”
They did for most of the game, opening up that 21-point first quarter lead before pushing it all the way to 30 late in the third quarter after outscoring the Grizzlies 33-16 in the period. But in both the second and fourth quarters, the Nets’ bench allowed Memphis to get back into the game. They let what was a 27-point lead at the start of the fourth dwindle to nine late in the game, forcing Kidd to bring the starters back in.
“I didn’t want to go back in the game,” said Deron Williams. “I didn’t think I was going to go back in. It’s frustrating. It’s something we talked about. It’s something coach definitely talked about after the game. Up 27, there should be no reason the starters went back in.
“We had two lulls, in the second and fourth quarters. It’s not always the bench, sometimes it’s the starters who have that type of night, and I think they took that to heart, and they’ll come out better [Friday in Boston].”
The Nets kept their lead in the second quarter thanks to getting 15 straight points from Marcus Thornton, who finished with 20 points and now has had more than 20 points — and double-digit scoring quarters — in two of the last three games.
Thornton, who finished 4-for-5 from 3-point range, led a Nets offense that was on fire from the field, going 15-for-26 (57.7 percent) from 3-point range and shooting over 51 percent from the field against a Memphis defense that is in the top 10 in field-goal percentage allowed.
“We haven’t had many nights where teams shoot the heck out of it,” Memphis coach Dave Joerger said.
“Brooklyn came to play. Hats off to them.”
Joe Johnson led the Nets with 21 points, one of five players to finish in double figures. Williams, meanwhile, was excellent at both ends, finishing with 16 points, seven assists and just one turnover while forcing his counterpart, Mike Conley into a miserable night (two points on 0-for-8 shooting and six turnovers).
Overall, it was the kind of performance that has the Nets thinking that, after everything they’ve been through this season, they still have the potential to make some noise in the playoffs.
“This is a great time for us to start meshing, coming together, and playing good basketball,” Johnson said. “It’s says a lot about this team — how far we’ve come and the things we’ve been through the whole season.
“We’ve just got to keep fighting. Obviously we’ve been on an uphill climb pretty much the whole year. To get to this point, where we’re a game over .500, it’s not time to exhale. We have to keep our foot on the gas and keep going.”