LOS ANGELES – Here are my three thoughts on the Nets’ 108-102 win over the Lakers at Staples Center Sunday night:
1. For everything that happened to the Nets surrounding the season debut of Jason Collins, the biggest development in the short term was finally managing to get a win in the second half of a back-to-back. The Nets are now 3-10 in such games after leading wire-to-wire and coming away with a win over the Lakers, and those wins have come against the Grizzlies (missing both Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph), the hapless Magic and the even more hapless Lakers.
But all that matters to the Nets is they were able to come up with a win in what was easily the most crucial game of this entire six-game Western road trip. The Nets definitely should have won the opening game of the trip (in Utah, which they did) and should win the final game of the trip (in Milwaukee). And with tricky games against the Warriors, whom they lost to Saturday, as well as the Trail Blazers on Wednesday and Nuggets on Thursday, the Nets needed Sunday’s game in order to ensure they end the trip with a .500 or better record.
2. A big reason the Nets failed to come up with a victory in a very winnable game against Golden State was the combination of Mirza Teletovic and Alan Anderson missing open 3-pointers as the Nets as a team went 2-for-21 from deep.
In Sunday’s win, both of those stats turned around. Anderson and Teletovic combined to go 5-for-7 from 3-point range, and the Nets went 12-for-25. If the Nets are getting 3-pointers from across their lineup, specifically from their bench, they become hard to beat.
This is where Marcus Thornton could potentially become a weapon. If he can shake off his rough half-season in Sacramento and become a consistent catch-and-shoot option off the bench, he could become an interesting piece – assuming he can ever get over his bout with food poisoning that held him out of both games this weekend.
3. Don’t look now, but Deron Williams is back to playing at an All-Star level. In the three games since the break, he’s averaging 23 points on 49 percent shooting along with 6.7 assists in 38 minutes per game.
The biggest acquisition the Nets could get last week was Williams coming back from the All-Star break in something approaching his best form. If that happens, they still could climb up the standings and take aim at third place in the East.