NBA

Nets lose to Hawks

Maybe the Nets should consider asking the NBA to start their games in the second quarter.

As they have so many times this season, the Nets came out flat in the first quarter. They found themselves trailing 31-18 after one and never were able to recover, eventually losing 106-101 to the Hawks at Prudential Center. The loss dropped the Nets to 2-8 this season, as they hit road for a four-game West Coast swing.

“I don’t know what our shooting percentage is in the first quarter [this season],” said Deron Williams, who finished with 15 points and 14 assists, “but it can’t be over 30 percent.”

It wasn’t over 30 percent last night, as the Nets shot 5-for-17 (29 percent) in the opening 12 minutes. Meanwhile, at the other end, the Hawks got off to a roaring start, shooting over 60 percent from the field in the first, to give themselves an early cushion.

“We just got off to such a lethargic start,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “That has been something like an epidemic for us this year, and we’ve got to do a better job.”

From that point forward, though, the Nets played like a totally different team. For one of the first times all season, their offense clicked, as they shot a season-high 46.8 percent from the floor.

More important, for a team that relies on 3-point shooting, the Nets were hitting from long range for the second time in three games, going 11-for-22 from behind the arc.

“This is what I’ve been hoping for,” Johnson said.

For many players, 15 points and 14 assists would be a career night. But for Williams, it was another frustrating night that ended in yet another loss, dropping the Nets to 2-8 this season.

“I was 6-for-17 from the field, I had six turnovers . . . so, no, I’m not happy with how I played,” Williams said.

Still, Williams could find some positives in the Nets’ performance last night after the lackluster first quarter, including a furious rally late in the fourth quarter that got them within three in the game’s final moments before Joe Johnson sank a pair of free throws to seal the win for Atlanta.

“It’s better,” Williams said. “We had a lot more fight today.

“There’s a lot of good things we can take away from this game. Hopefully we can build on it for this road trip, and we can get some wins on the road.”

One of those positives was the play of rookie MarShon Brooks. Inserted into the starting lineup shortly before tip due to DeShawn Stevenson being a late scratch with a sore right knee, Brooks finished with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting, including going 3-for-6 from 3-point range, and also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds in 41 minutes.

“He has a knack for getting the ball, and the kid is doing some nice things for us,” Johnson said. “For him to play 40 minutes, and having to guard a superstar in Joe Johnson, that’s good.”