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| Alan Anderson played one of his best games as a Net tonight, scoring a game-high 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting |
It was ugly, extremely ugly, and about as unconvincing as possible, but the Nets managed to finally run away from a super-depleted San Antonio Spurs in the second half en route to their 2nd-straight win.
This "game", if it even deserves to be called as such, was about as boring and uneventful as a nationally-televised NBA game is going to get. San Antonio, even on the back stretch of a back-to-back after a double overtime win in Washington last night, got off to a hot start and took a 20-8 lead midway through the opening frame. The Nets, after two rest days, somehow had no energy to begin the game, but were able to gradually climb back, winning the last three quarters by eight, six, and eight points respectively to grab a one-point halftime lead and extend to a double-digit advantage in the second half.
Even though Brooklyn allowed the Spurs' bench–without Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Leonard, or Diaw, that's basically what Pop's squad was–to hang around for far too long, all that truly matters is that the Nets were able to eek out the much-needed win. Now, starting with the Pistons game, they have five games in a row against subpar opponents, all of which are certainly winnable. The going starts to get tough after the All-Star break when Brooklyn heads out to the Western Conference for a long road trip.
Some other observations I had from the game: Finally, Alan Anderson was able to connect all the figurative dots tonight and started to hit open and even contested jumpers, showcasing the reason why the Nets signed him away from the Raptors this summer. The 2013-14 season has been an up-and-down one for Anderson so far, so a big game like tonight (22 points in 30 minutes) could go a long way….Blatche (10 points), Joe (eight points), and Kirilenko (four points, ight boards, six assists) all returned from injury and provided some needed spark on both offense and defense. As usual, AK was everywhere on the floor, deflecting passes, contesting shots, creating turnovers, finding open teammates, grabbing big rebounds and the list goes on and on. He does so much for this team it's truly innumerable…..Deron Williams may have righted his personal ship, as he finished strong after a poor turnover-and-missed-shot-filled early stint in this game. He was taken out quickly in the first after a terrible start, but was re-entered by Kidd and hit some shots, somewhat regaining the star form–albeit in a short sample size–that he flashes so fleetingly…..KG and Pierce didn't do much in their 41 combined minutes, but with the Nets in Detroit tomorrow, Kidd was certainly conserving their minutes, which he did very well.
Looking Ahead
The Nets are right back at it, as they take on the Pistons (whom Brooklyn is 0-2 against this season) tomorrow night in Motown.
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