WASHINGTON — John Wall seems destined to become of the NBA’s best players, but in last night’s 90-84 Nets win over the Wizards, Deron Williams showed him just how far he has to go to reach that level.
After the Nets trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half, Williams took over the game, scoring 10 points in the third quarter and finishing with 23 to lead New Jersey to a season-opening victory.
“It’s a good win for us,” Williams said, “especially considering how we played in the first half, getting down by 20 points. I’m definitely proud of the way we battled back. … We couldn’t hit shots, we couldn’t get stops, but once we got it turned around, we got momentum and played a lot better.”
Wall had the upper-hand early, scoring six points and dishing out three assists in the first quarter as the Wizards jumped out to a 26-13 lead. But it was all Williams from that point on.
After a late run cut the Nets’ deficit to 45-37 at halftime, Williams put the Nets on his back early in the third. He either scored or assisted on six of the Nets’ first seven baskets in the quarter, including a 3-pointer with 5:53 left in the third to give the Nets their first lead, 58-57.
“I missed a lot of easy open shots, really the whole game, but especially in the first quarter,” Williams said. “So I just kind of wanted to redeem myself. My legs weren’t really in the shots the first half, so I made a conscious effort to just change some things when I was warming up in the second half, and I was able to get going a little bit.”
Williams, who also had eight rebounds and eight assists, went into a shooting funk after that before making a huge 3-pointer with 4:01 remaining in the fourth to stretch the lead to 82-78. He then hit a wide-open Anthony Morrow for a critical 3-pointer with 1:37 left to put the Nets up 87-79.
After his hot start, Wall cooled off considerably. He finished 3-for-13 from the field and 7-for-13 from the foul line, missing three critical free throws in the fourth and earning some boos.