One down, one to go.
The Nets, led by 25 points from Paul Pierce, claimed a 105-89 victory over the Bobcats inside Barclays Center Wednesday night to win the front half of their back-to-back to close the first half of the season that will conclude Thursday night in Chicago.
“It’s huge,” Pierce said of Thursday’s game. “Actually, I just looked when we were in the back, and if we win tomorrow, we move up a spot. There’s a big difference between being in seventh spot and moving up to the third spot. … I think we’re only a couple games from the third spot.
“Every game is crucial at this point. It can mean you going from the eight seed all the way to the three seed. Each and every week you’re going to see the standings, and it’s going to move up-and-down, and every game is important for us.”
To Pierce’s point, the win for the Nets (24-26) kept them three games behind Toronto for first place in the Atlantic Division and the third seed overall, while allowing them to gain ground on the idle Bulls in fourth, the Hawks in fifth and to move into a tie with the Wizards in sixth.
The Nets will get another chance to try to reverse their season-long struggles in second halves of back-to-back games, as they headed to Chicago ahead of the impending snow storm early Thursday morning hoping to improve on their 2-9 record in those games — as well as to avenge a blowout loss to the Bulls in Brooklyn on Christmas Day.
“It would mean a lot. It’d be a confidence booster going into the West Coast trip [after the All-Star Break],” Joe Johnson said. “This is a team that came into our house and pretty much handled us. We definitely want it.”
Beating the Bobcats allowed the Nets to continue their dramatic turnaround since the start of 2014, with their record now at 14-5 since the year began after picking up wins in four of their last five games.
They continued their recent hot streak against the Bobcats (23-30) thanks to a sterling performance from Pierce, who went 9-for-11 from the field — including 5-for-5 from 3-point range — in one of his best performances as a Net.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the floor, the Nets became one of the few teams in recent weeks to find a way to slow down Al Jefferson. The Nets became just the second team in his last 16 games to hold Jefferson under 20 points after holding the Bobcats’ center to 12 points — with only one point coming after the first quarter.
“The guys executed the game plan,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We wanted to double-team him a little bit early to not let him get in a rhythm. … The guys executed the game plan, double-teaming him, and being able to understand how to [execute] that rotation.”
“Jefferson has been playing at a high level, so for him to have 12 points tonight, that’s a great job for those guys.”
While former Rice High School star Kemba Walker, who finished with 16 points despite playing on a sore left Achilles, tried to keep the Bobcats in the game, the Nets blew things open to start the third quarter with a 15-3 run. Eleven of the points came from Pierce and the other four from Kevin Garnett, who finished with 10 points in 14 minutes, as the Nets maintained a lead of around or more than 20 points for virtually the rest of the game.
That allowed the Nets to rest all of their starters for the entire fourth quarter, setting themselves up as best as they possibly could to enter the All-Star break with a win in Chicago and to continue their impressive run since the beginning of 2014.
“With an older team like us,” Deron Williams said with a smile, “all the rest you can get is great.”