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| Granger was frustrated by the Nets defense the whole game |
The Nets lost a really tough game in Indiana tonight by the score of 106-99. The Nets were able to really stick with the Pacers for the whole 1st-half and then faded in the 3rd quarter and early parts of the 4th quarter, finding themselves down by 18 at one point. New Jersey then unleashed a 20-5 run cutting the Indiana lead to 102-99 with a minute left in the game but the comeback was too little, too late as the Pacers were able to hold on late for the win. The loss is the 2nd straight for the Nets and is their 9th straight loss in general to the Pacers.
This effort showed that the Nets (i.e: Deron and Anthony Morrow) had a ton of fight and weren’t willing to give up and take the loss, even when the Nets are down by 18 points. D-Will and Morrow were the only Net players who scored in the 4th, as Deron had 14 of his 34 points in the final period and Morrow had 13 of his 28 in the 4th as well. With injuries across the board, Deron and Morrow knew they would have to step up if the Nets were going to compete and they did, but their efforts couldn’t get a win because they weren’t really healped out by anyone else on the team. D-Will and Morrow were seriously locked-in this game as they each had 4+ three-pointers and both made at least half of their shots.
Other than on the offensive end, the Nets didn’t really play that well of a game as they were outrebounded by 7, allowed the Pacers to get 26 assists, and let Indiana shoot for a pretty high 52 percent from the field. Paul George continued his domination of the Nets in this one as he efficiently scored 24 points on 8-11 shooting in addition to having 4 three’s. For some reason, none of the Nets defenders were willing to get in George’s face to contest his shots and he calmly sinked jumper after jumper in the faces of the Nets. On a good note, David West, who got the start over Tyler Hansbrough, was held to 6 points and Danny Granger had to take 15 shots to get him 18 points. A very uneven defensive effort by an under-manned Nets team who only had 10 players dressed for the game.
Looking at the other Nets players, Kris Humphries continued his double-double ways with 13 points and 10 boards although he was only 3-7 from the free-throw line. Jordan Farmar continued his hot shooting streak with 10 points off the bench. All in all, a pretty decent performance by New Jersey considering how well Indiana has played recently compounding with the fact that the Nets have been hit so hard by the injury bug.
Some other observations I had from the game: I think its fair to say that Deron has found his groove as he has simply been on fire lately and it looks like we got as a bargain considering how well he has been controlling this offense in recent games. Deron’s on-court body language is also noticeably better than in the beginning of the year and it reinforces the notion that he wants to stay with the Nets beyond this season…Shawne Williams is approaching Travis Outlaw-like free-agent bust status. Shawne’s three-point shot, the reason the Nets signed him, has been incredibly off this entire season and other than his range, Williams doesn’t provide any value to coach Johnson and the team at all. With his 1-8 performance behind-the-arc tonight, Shawne’s 3-point percentage on the year is down to a putrid 26 percent. I think he should be benched in favor of Owens or Jordan Williams…Deron has serious hops (VIDEO)…The team turnovers were also an issue tonight as the Nets committed 19. I have no simple explanation for the high number of TO’s the Nets have been committing but I guess it can attributed to Deron’s sometimes reckless play. Good news, the Pacers also committed 19…We really miss Mehmet Okur’s scoring ability as Shelden is good for rebounds and defense but provides nothing on the other end, he didn’t even take a shot tonight…D-Will and Morrow are quickly developing as a deadly shooting-passing tandem. Morrow got most of his open shots tonight off of Deron’s penetrations and D-Will gets a lot of shots himself just because defenders have to stick to Morrow no matter what because of his well-known stroke.
Looking Ahead
The Nets head back to Newark to take on the lowly Detroit Pistons tomorrow night who got crushed by the Knicks tonight at the Garden. Hopefully the Nets can overcome their home issues to snap this losing streak.
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