SALT LAKE CITY — It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy, but the Nets opened their six-game Western road trip with the win they desperately needed.
After falling behind by as many as 13 points early in the third quarter, the Nets fought their way back with a 20-6 run to end the third, and came away with a 105-99 victory over the Jazz inside EnergySolutions Arena Wednesday night.
“Our defense was big,” said Nets coach Jason Kidd, who was working with a short bench after the Nets sent Jason Terry and Reggie Evans to the Kings for Marcus Thornton earlier in the day. “I thought the guys kept fighting. They stayed together. … We didn’t break.
“Being on the road against a team that’s playing extremely well, the defense got us back in the game, and then our bench was big. Everybody chipped in to get this win tonight.
The win was the first for Deron Williams in three trips to Utah since the Jazz traded him to the Nets three years ago. Williams finished with 19 points and seven assists in 36 minutes, including a 3-pointer with just over two minutes left that capped a 10-1 run and iced the win.
“It has gotten better and better each year,” Williams said of the crowd reaction toward him while sporting a bruise on his face after catching an elbow from Alec Burks in the fourth quarter. “Maybe in a couple years I will get all cheers … you never know.”
Joe Johnson had 27 points and six assists, and Andray Blatche had 25 points and six boards off the bench for the Nets (25-27), who moved past the Hawks and into a tie with the Wizards for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, and to move within three games of the Raptors for first place in the Atlantic Division.
“It is what it is right now,” Paul Pierce said of the Nets’ place in the standings. “I mean, shoot, we’ve got 30 games.
“Besides the first two seeds, from three all the way to eight it can change every week. That’s the good thing about it. It’s not like anybody outside of those top two seeds are head and shoulders above everybody else.”
The win certainly wasn’t easy, though, as the Nets allowed the Jazz (19-34) to jump out to an early lead by getting pounded on the glass and allowing Utah to go 7-for-13 from the 3-point line in the first half to open up a 56-48 lead at halftime.
Things then got worse to start the third quarter, when Pierce checked himself out of the game and headed directly back to the locker room with athletic trainer Tim Walsh in tow, though he did return to the floor a few minutes later.
“Just a little bit of turf toe, arthritis in the turf toe,” he said. “But it was all right. I came back here, took my mojo, and got back out there.”
Though Pierce returned, the Nets allowed the Jazz to extend their lead to 68-55 on a 3-pointer by former Net Richard Jefferson with 7:36 left in the third.
It was then, however, that the Nets finally got themselves going, with Blatche scoring 10 of his 25 points during that 20-6 closing run in the third that saw the Nets head into the fourth with a 75-74 lead, before they gradually pulled away for the win.
“Huge,” Kevin Garnett said of the importance of the victory. “We would have liked to get Chicago and go into the break well, but I thought we came out tonight and took care of business.”