Don’t ask, because Deron Williams really doesn’t want to tell anything more about his sore right wrist. The doctors say the Nets point guard needs 3-4 weeks of rest, and that’s not happening until the summer.
In last night’s 88-79 win over the Celtics, Williams hurt the wrist again.
“I tweaked it. I tweaked it this morning at the shootaround. I’m going to tweak it next game. Probably at practice on Wednesday before the game,” Williams said.
*
Avery Johnson
doesn’t want to get too high or too low. But with five straight wins, the Nets’ longest winning streak since Dec. 28-Jan. 5 of the 2007-08 season, now including a win over the Celtics, he was asked if the Nets are turning the corner.
“We’re approaching the corner,” Johnson said.
Ray Allen
led the Celtics with 19 points. . . . The Nets now have five home sellouts, counting the two in England. . . . The Nets’ 11 3-pointers were one off their season high. . . . The Celtics are 0-5 when scoring fewer than 100 points. . . . The Nets had lost nine straight at home to Boston.
*
It seemed perfect. Troy Murphy
, Jersey guy, was coming home to play for New Jersey. But it quickly went sour.
Injuries at the start, the emergence of Kris Humphries
, the plan to develop since-traded Derrick Favors
, Murphy’s inclusion in all talks for Carmelo Anthony
, all conspired to thwart the forward. So he sat, was traded, and after a buyout from the Warriors landed with the Celtics.
Now that is perfect.
“It feels good. I’m excited,” said Murphy, who played nine minutes and grabbed five rebounds last night. “I understand it’s a business and it is what it is. The Nets want to make some moves and they ended up making a move that was great for them. They have a bright future, and I’m happy to be where I’m at.”
And with Boston, Murphy will get to the playoffs for the first time in his NBA career.
“It’s huge. In looking at places to go that was the No. 1 thing, going to the playoffs and having a long run in the playoffs. And I believe this team has the potential for that,” said Murphy, who is from Sparta, N.J. “I think [the Nets] just had a team that they wanted to play some young guys and they were looking to make some moves. The whole Carmelo thing was looming over the team all year. That’s pretty much what happened.”
*
With Sundiata Gaines
(six points, seven minutes) exploding on the scene, time for Ben Uzoh
is limited, if not rare. So the Nets are sending the undrafted rookie to the Springfield Armor of the D-League today.
“They’ve got about four games coming up in a six- or seven-day period. We hope for him to get in all four games, play a lot of minutes,” said Johnson, who said the Nets will decide after the four games whether to bring him back or not.
Uzoh said, “They just feel I need to play. They want me to get more minutes. The only way I can get better in their eyes is to play.”
*
Humphries made his first two shots last night — he had gone 8-for-8 in the Nets’ 102-98 overtime victory against the Clippers on Friday. So the streak ended at 10, but Humphries, with 20 rebounds in that game, got himself in some pretty elite company. Only two other players in NBA history were at least 8-of-8 with at least 20 rebounds. Wilt Chamberlain
did it nine times, Dikembe Mutombo
did it once with the Hawks (Dec. 14, 1999).
“I got eight pretty good looks,” Humphries said. “But at this point, we’re looking forward. Eight-for-eight [on Friday] won’t do anything for [future games].”
But even the career-high 20 rebounds didn’t earn Humphries respect from assistant coach Popeye Jones
.
“I had to listen to Popeye talking about he got 28 once,” said Humphries, who notched his seventh straight double-double last night with 16 points, 15 rebounds.
*
Anthony Morrow
returned to the Nets and scored 15 points after spending the weekend in Charlotte, N.C., with his family following the death of his grandmother, Geraldine Mayhew
.
“Knowing my grandma, she would have wanted me to stay focused and she would have been telling me the whole time don’t grieve too much,” Morrow said. “Nobody ever saw her complain or show any signs of weakness. She was a strong woman. That rubbed off on me and my parents and the whole family. That’s one thing she would have wanted me to do and that’s what’s keeping me going.”
*
Johnson on no longer facing Kendrick Perkins
with the Celtics: “Him not being in the building? Did I sleep a little easier? Yes.”
*
More help is coming for the Nets. Quinton Ross
(back) and Damion James
(concussion) are due back next week.
“I’ll be back, probably by the end of the week, early next week,” said Ross, who said he is pain free. “I took an epidural shot, I feel good.”
James said, “I’m good. I did shootaround. I’ll work out [Tuesday]. I worked out on my own, individual, that’s pretty much it. By Wednesday, I could do contact.”