Since the end of his rookie year with the Nets, Terrence Williams has been searching for the same thing: Consistent playing time.
“I think everybody that was a New Jersey fan, or a basketball fan, was able to see that I know how to play basketball,” said Williams, now a member of the Rockets, before Saturday night’s 112-106 win over the Nets at Prudential Center. “I don’t try to go out and say, ‘I need to prove this and I need to prove that’ in my 10 minutes or 15 minutes of play.
“At the end of the day, I know how to play basketball, and I think that’s what shows with time on the court.”
Williams, who the Nets sent to the Rockets last season in a three-team in trade in exchange for a first-round pick and guard Sasha Vujacic, was getting a chance to play early this season, getting more than 20 minutes in four of Houston’s first five games before seeing his playing time dwindle from there.
Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Williams has been caught in a bit of a numbers game between the several wings on Houston’s roster, including Chandler Parsons, Chase Budinger and rookie Marcus Morris.
“It’s tough. We have a lot of wings, and it’s really loaded up in that spot,” McHale said. “It was a situation where he got some time early, he’s gotten a little bit of time lately, and it’s just a tough situation for a lot of those wings.”
Williams also said he still isn’t sure why he was traded away last season.
“You’d have to ask the coach in the other locker room, the staff over there, the GM, the owner,” he said. “I don’t know.
“I came to the gym, and I was traded.”
Williams had gotten a chance recently, playing double-digit minutes in two games before again finding himself in controversy Saturday night. After sitting out for the first half, he didn’t appear on the bench in the second half, with McHale saying Williams had a stomach ache.
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Rookie guard MarShon Brooks put together another strong scoring performance, finishing with 23 points on 11-for-16 shooting. But perhaps the more important was his passing, as Brooks finished the game with a career-high seven assists.
“That’s the kind of game we’re looking for him to consistently give us,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “Seven assists, five rebounds, get a couple of steals and score the ball, and make some tough shots.”
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The loss, which snapped the Nets’ winning streak at two games, means the Nets will go an entire calendar year without a three-game winning streak. The last time the Nets won three in a row was from March 4 through March 14 of last year, when they reeled off five straight wins. The loss also puts the Nets five games behind the Knicks for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.