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| Deron and Joe combined for 45 points on 16-33 shooting and led the Nets to yet another home win, their 10th straight |
Outside of a November meeting in which the Bobcats came out victorious, Nets' games against Charlotte–at least in recent memory–have turned out pretty well for Brooklyn/New Jersey, and tonight's was no different.
The Nets scraped together a 1st quarter lead of five points that they used as a basis for the rest of the game, relinquishing it at certain points in the 2nd and 4th quarters, but holding it together long enough late to obtain a big win, their 10th consecutive triumph at Barclays Center and their 9th in 10 tries against the Bobcats. Brooklyn has also won five of its last six games, and with the win, the Nets now have sole possession of the No. 5 seed in the East, jumping over the idle Wizards, and are 2 games behind the Bulls for the 4 seed and 2.5 behind the Raptors for the 3 seed/Atlantic Division lead.
Charlotte scored the first six points of the night, before Brooklyn immediately answered with a 8-0 run to get the score back into a manageable balance. From there on, behind some great play from Joe Johnson and Miles Plumlee (who started for Kevin Garnett, who has missed their last 10 games, at center again), the Nets built up a five-point lead after 12 minutes that grew to as large as 13 in the next quarter before the Bobcats fought back to take a 42-40 lead after a pair of threes from former Net Chris Douglas-Roberts.
Threes from D-Will and Joe quickly squashed that attempt at Charlotte controlling this game, and Brooklyn ended the 1st half on a 11-2 run to give them a 54-46 advantage. The Nets continued this good play into the 2nd half, until an end-of-the-3rd-quarter 8-2 run cut the Bobcats' deficit to just five points heading into the final frame, in which Steve Clifford's squad put together a quick 7-0 run, after a Marcus Thornton layup, to tie up the score at 77 and cause the Nets to stop their coasting, and bare down to seal off a win.
Deron Williams, who scored a game-high 25 points, had a personal 7-0 run in the middle of the quarter to give Brooklyn a five-point lead after the pesky Bobcats turned their deficit into a 85-84 score in their favor. Big shots from Joe and Paul Pierce a few minutes later all but confirmed the victory for the Nets, who were able to get buckets and stops at the key moments of the game when they needed them. It wasn't pretty and easy, but the job of winning was completely perfectly.
Some other observations I had from the game: Deron Williams: 25 points, 8-for-15 shooting, 3-for-5 from three, eight assists. Joe Johnson: 20 points, 8-for-18 shooting, 3-for-7 from three, eight rebounds, +21 rating. Shaun Livingston: 17 points, 5-for-9 shooting. Brooklyn's backcourt was incredible tonight on both ends of the floor, as they combined for 62 points and held Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson to 20 points total on 8-for-21 shooting. Walker, the New York native, couldn't get anything going tonight, and just made two of his eight field goal attempts because of suffocating D from the taller and lankier Williams and Livingston…..Mason Plumlee keeps impressing, as he dropped in 11 points and seven rebounds in just 19 minutes. He made the jobs of the Bobcats' big men much more difficult because of the fouls he drew, boards he collected, and hustle he exerted….Mirza Teletovic was scoreless in 15 minutes and missed all five shots he took. After a good chunk of the season for him, the last few weeks have been desperately cold….Great play off the bench from Andray Blatche (6-for-10 shooting for 13 points) and Marcus Thornton (11 points on 4-for-7 shooting). Blatche was amazing all around, as he played great defense on Al Jefferson and made some amazing passes from the post to teammates for layups. Thornton hit a pair of triples and drove to the hoop strong a bunch, and did what he was expected to do for the Nets: score quickly off the bench….Douglas-Roberts put in 13 points (and three 3-pointers) on 5-for-9 shooting off the bench against his old team. He also has crazy hair and crazy shoes, so there's that.
Looking Ahead
The Nets end their home stretch of games on Friday night against the Celtics, as they look for revenge against the team that beat them in Boston two weeks prior.
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