ATLANTA — The cynic will see a third straight loss by the Nets, this one by a 105-98 count to the Hawks. The cynic will point to some big missed shots, some bad mistakes and some blown defensive assignments down the stretch.
But coach Avery Johnson and the rest of the Nets were anything but cynical after this one. MarShon Brooks calling a timeout that didn’t exist — with its subsequent backbreaking technical foul shot and possession for the Hawks with 20.6 seconds left in a four-point game — was overshadowed by the rookie’s personal high 21-point confidence-laden output.
“You say take the good with the bad, I saw all good with MarShon,” Johnson said.
The positive view for Johnson and the Nets didn’t end there. Yes, they fell to 1-3. But they did so by fighting to the end against a team that shredded them by 36 points three nights prior. Deron Williams resembled Deron Williams, scoring, directing, dominating, though he tweaked his left ankle in the fourth quarter, but later returned. There were the near obligatory Kris Humphries double-figure rebounds (13). Mehmet Okur (15 points) got in the scoring parade early.
Johnson asked the Nets for better body language. He got it. He wanted Williams to relax and the All-Star point guard was as calm as a spring breeze.
“We took a step in the right direction. Still got off to the slow start, but we were able to battle,” said Williams (23 points, six assists, just two turnovers). “So this is a much better effort. There’s a lot more that we can take away from this game.”
Now make no mistake, the Nets, who shot 46 percent weren’t hoisting cold ones and congratulating themselves for a good loss.
“We can take positives out of this, but it’s not where we want to be,” said Humphries, who had his second double-double. “Whether it’s two or 30, it’s still a loss.”
But there was real progress. Start with Brooks, who hit 8 of 13 shots after entering in the first quarter. He would have traded every point for a win, but the 25th pick in last June’s draft echoed sentiments similar to those of his coach.
“Tough things down the stretch kept us from winning, but we made a lot of progress,” Brooks said. “We competed to the end. Just a couple balls didn’t go our way, they made a couple plays on their end and we didn’t. That was the difference in the game.”
The Nets battled and gave the Hawks everything they could handle and twice were in position to tie late, down two, but drew blanks with misfires by Anthony Morrow (at the 1:16 mark with a 15-foot runner) and Williams (at :the 40.8-second mark with a driving reverse, a shot he hit less than a minute before).
“We had two good looks,” Williams said.
After the Williams miss, Joe Johnson (21 points), who teamed with backcourt mate Jeff Teague (22 points) to manufacture much of the damage, worked against Brooks and scored an eight-foot runner because there was no help.
That put the Hawks up four and put the Nets into their last timeout. Brooks looked to inbound, couldn’t and called a timeout the Nets didn’t have. So Johnson hit a technical, Atlanta got possession. Johnson was fouled and hit two more free throws with 18.8 seconds left — the Hawks shot 38 free throws to the Nets’ 14.
Everyone tried to exonerate the rookie. Johnson said he “just forgot.” Williams said, “It wasn’t his fault. Everybody should have known, players and coaches, we didn’t have timeouts.”
“We made a mistake as a team,” Brooks said.
And that may have been the biggest difference tonight. The Nets really looked like a team.