When: December 23, 2015; 7:30 PM EST
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
He’s back. For the first time since he was bought out by the Nets this summer and quickly signed by his hometown Dallas Mavericks, Deron Williams returns to Barclays Center, where he called home for the last three seasons (following 1.5 seasons in New Jersey with the Nets). But, due to a hamstring injury suffered in Dallas’ 103-99 loss to the Raptors last night, Williams won’t play tonight.
His return comes on the heels of an interview he did with Yahoo! in which he says that his troubled tenure with the Nets made him question his commitment to the sport of basketball. It was the perfect summation of his time in the New York Metropolitan Area, which was marred by a turnstile of coaches, roster instability, injuries and Williams pouting about various perceived issues.
In addition to Deron, former Net Devin Harris — who left the organization on significantly better terms than his teammate — is also out tonight, meaning former Knick Raymond Felton will probably get the start for Dallas.
For the home team — which is coming off a surprising win over the Bulls in Chicago on Monday night — Shane Larkin, who was drafted by the Mavericks and has missed the Nets’ last four games with a concussion — is expected to return to action tonight. Donald Sloan actually has played well as the backup point in Larkin’s stead, so it’s unclear whether he will be relegated to solely garbage time with Jack and Larkin ahead of him.
Probable lineups
DAL- Raymond Felton (PG), Wesley Matthews (SG), Chandler Parsons (SF), Dirk Nowitzki (PF), Zaza Pachulia (C)
BKN- Jarrett Jack (PG), Bojan Bogdanovic (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Thaddeus Young (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
Final thoughts
This is the type of game the Nets have struggled with all season. After the big momentum boost of the win over the Bulls, will Brooklyn be able to build with another strong 48 minutes on Wednesday? The Mavericks are a little banged up and maybe the added incentive of having Deron in the building after his incendiary comments gives the Nets the push they need to win their second game in as many tries.
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