With injuries, late signings and all the scheduling goodies the NBA has dumped upon them, the Nets looked at their current plight and saw that delightful little scenario known as the back-to-back-to-back death march, three games in three nights. Last night they were in the middle of that horror.
They had already completed the first segment, a loss to the Thunder on Saturday. Looking ahead, they saw the best team on the planet, the Bulls, in Chicago tonight. It’s not being overly negative to say no one feels all warm and fuzzy about the Nets’ prospects there. So they needed the middle segment last night against the struggling Bobcats. Needed it real bad. So they went after it early, unleashing Deron Williams.
“I was a little more aggressive, especially in the first half,” said Williams. “The offense was just flowing a little better.”
So one night after they shot 31 percent and some players griped about shooting in Prudential Center, Williams, who finished one rebound shy of a triple double, propelled the offense early and then MarShon Brooks picked up the scoring mantle along with the bench. So the Nets recorded their must-get win, a 97-87 victory over the Bobcats before a loyal gathering of 10,035 who bypassed the start of the Giants’ game to witness the 5-12 Nets’ second home triumph.
The Nets wanted to attack the paint. They did, as Williams (19 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds) and Brooks (20 points) repeatedly posted the Bobcats’ smaller guards, including starter D.J. Augustin (lost to a inflamed big toe; slight bone crack between toes after just 7:39) and rookie Kemba Walker (16 points). The Nets wanted to control the glass. They did, 47-34, getting 16 offensive rebounds, six by Kris Humphries (eight points, 10 rebounds). They wanted good shots early and got them, hitting 50 percent in the half.
“It wasn’t the best defensive team we played against,” Williams said.
Really, there was only one targeted area where the Nets failed.
“The goal was to try to get to 100 points and we thought in a game where energy was a concern for both teams, we figured first team to 100 would really have a chance to win,” said Nets coach Avery Johnson, who used the same starting lineup — Deron Williams, Brooks, DeShawn Stevenson, Humphries and Mehmer Okur — for a fourth straight game.
On Saturday, that group became the first unit to start three straight games for the Nets. It was also on Saturday that the Rock as a bad home arena came into play.
“I wasn’t making excuses,” Williams said. “You guys asked if I liked the arena. I said I didn’t.”
Seemed lovable last night.
Behind Williams’ 17 first half points, the Nets led by as many as 16 but the offense hit a third-quarter glitch. So Anthony Morrow (19 points) and Jordan Farmar (13 points) arose, while Shelden Williams gave typical rough inside play. When the Bobcats got within 64-57 on a dunk by Gerald Henderson (15 points), Farmar stuck a 3-pointer. The Nets went back up 14 but Charlotte got to within 10, so Farmar drove.
“I could feel the game slipping a little bit. I just wanted to be aggressive,” Farmar said.
When Johnson felt the game slipping a bit in the fourth quarter (the lead slipped to seven), he didn’t hesitate to re-insert four starters.
“We just had a couple of unforced turnovers and we had to get our guys back in,” Johnson said, “because we needed to have this game.”
Especially in between the Thunder and the Bulls.