In the wake of Thursday night’s stunning victory in Oklahoma City, the Nets all said it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t follow with another victory against the Cavaliers in Brooklyn on Saturday night.
After a season full of missed opportunities, the Nets didn’t let this one slip through their fingers. They rode a strong defensive effort to an 89-80 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center to begin a four-game homestand with a win.
“It was very important to validate it,” said Joe Johnson, whose buzzer-beater won Thursday’s game. “We went in and beat a tough Oklahoma City team and came back home, didn’t relax, and were able to pull this one out.”
The Cavaliers were without star point guard Kyrie Irving, and the Nets (12-21) did exactly what they should have done, holding Cleveland (11-22) to 36.7-percent shooting from the field. They nearly shut the Cavs down completely, outside of 26 points from Dion Waiters.
“I thought we just did a good job of defending,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 17 points and passed Allen Iverson for 19th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. “You’ve got to be able to close games out that are close, especially at home. … That’s what the good teams do.”
The Nets, who now have their second winning streak of the season, were led by Deron William’s 21 points and six assists, while Andray Blatche came off the bench with 12 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes in his first game back after missing the previous four for personal reasons.
“To come back and help the team get a win and start a winning streak felt good,” Blatche said.
The Nets got off to a hot start, thanks to a very productive first quarter from Reggie Evans. Starting in place of Kevin Garnett (rest), Evans had eight points and six rebounds while playing almost the entire quarter, helping the Nets to a 22-17 lead. The Nets eventually went into halftime with a 51-38 lead.
“The guys came out with the same effort and energy that they did in Oklahoma, and the result was the same,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Reggie stepped up big, being able to start and control the boards for us. He was also aggressive in the first quarter making some shots. … He was a big plus.”
The Nets managed to give the entire halftime advantage back in the third quarter, however, as a combination of dreadful shooting (they went 3-for-13 overall and 2-for-7 from behind the arc, including missing several wide-open looks) and the bigger Cavs frontline abusing them on the boards (they outrebounded the Nets 13-4 in the quarter) allowed Cleveland to begin the third with a 23-7 run. The Cavs took a 61-58 lead on a 3-pointer by Dellavedova with 1:51 remaining in the quarter.
But the Nets responded by ending the third with a run of their own. A Mirza Teletovic 3-pointer capped the scoring and gave the Nets back the lead at 67-65 heading into the final quarter. They finally put the game away by opening the fourth with a 9-2 run.
“We know we didn’t play well in the third quarter, but we didn’t drop or give up in that quarter,” Andrei Kirilenko said. “[But] we just kept playing.”