This was going to be the start of something for the Nets. Coach Avery Johnson and the players were excited about having a new starting three, small forward Gerald Wallace, join the lineup. They were at home against the team with the second-worst record in the NBA. It was, they said, time to turn the page on the season.
Instead, it’s time to close the book on 2011-12.
Not the presence of Wallace, who donned a Nets uniform for the first time and started, not an influx of athleticism, not a strong start, nothing could prevent the Nets from being the Nets. They collapsed with stunning completeness in the fourth quarter when they were outscored by 20 points and blew a 12-point lead before suffering a 102-94 loss to the Hornets in Newark.
“A tough loss,” said Deron Williams (20 points, 12 assists but 9-of-24 shooting after missing four games with a sore calf). “We talked about it before the game, this was one we needed. It’s a tough loss to swallow.”
Tough to swallow when you’re choking after three quarters of sound play. There were positives but when you’re 15-31 and 6 1/2 games behind the eighth and final playoff spot with about two hours left in the season, virtually anything looks positive. Johnson ticked off some smiley faces and then noted “we’ve got to get some better defense and better intensity from some other areas.”
The Nets, who got 20 points from Anthony Morrow, eventually were done in by shots from two Hornet 20-point scorers: Chris Kaman with a long beat-the-clock off an inbounds two at :45.0 and a 3-pointer by Marco Belinelli at :16.8.
“Definitely a bummer loss, because we know we should’ve won,” said Green (16 points), who the Nets will sign for the remainder of the season today (his second and final 10-day contract expired at midnight).
And so the debut for Wallace wasn’t one for the team scrapbook. The big trade deadline acquisition after the hunt for Dwight Howard ended in bitter disappointment, Wallace is an upgrade for sure. But, in what seems to be a never-ending Nets storyline, after the season he can opt out of the $9.5 million he’s due next year, the final leg of his contract. He said nothing is determined.
“We’re still deciding on that. We’ll figure it out and see how things go,” said Wallace, who played 37 minutes, scored 11 points, took three rebounds and blocked three shots. “Right now I’m just concentrating on finishing out the season and trying to make the playoffs and we’ll go from there.”
With questions everywhere — including two stars with the ability to opt out (and Williams has said he will) and a center in Brook Lopez who is a restricted free agent — the Nets are headed to Brooklyn next year. They are trying to surround Williams with as much talent to be competitive and also to convince him to remain in the fold. Though indications favor him staying, the Nets have learned in recent years how plans can implode. So Wallace is the hope for an answer at the three. And it began last night.
“It was wild. It was kind of crazy,” Wallace said. “I was telling Deron, it’s kind of hard being out there and they call a play and I don’t have a clue where to go or what I’m supposed to do.”
And this is different from other Nets how?
“We let a game get away that we could’ve won,” said Wallace, who now knows what it means to be a Net.