Brooklyn Rally Falls Short: Rockets 106, Nets 96 (Game Grades)

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Deron Williams POINT GUARD

Played well and carried the non-shooting offense, but seemed to lack lift on his jumper and drives to the rim. Did a mostly admirable job on James Harden. But for all the good he brought — creating for others, playing solid defense — if only he’d shot, say, 8-16 instead of 5-16…

Gerald Wallace SMALL FORWARD

You can only appreciate his energy so much when he’s missing layup after layup, jumper after jumper. Hope his eye heals soon.

Kris Humphries POWER FORWARD

Did a good job limiting the Rockets to one possession with his rebounding in his short stint.

Brook Lopez CENTER

Another excellent offensive night negated by porous pick-and-roll defense. It’s hard to put the onus entirely on Lopez here — if the strategy is for him to show hard on the ballhandler, then the weakside help deserves the fault for the open dunks that land behind him.

But can’t understate his offensive night — another monster. And he converted an alley-oop!

Andray Blatche POWER FORWARD

Struggled in the first few quarters but made up for it in the fourth with a few smart plays: a nice pass out of a double-team, a charge call, a steal, and a posterization of Donatas Motiejunas. Makes his earlier silence and a later airball almost worth it.

Keith Bogans SHOOTING GUARD

Most notable impact on the game came when he got in James Harden’s face after he took offense to Harden complaining to the referees.

MarShon Brooks SHOOTING GUARD

Looked smooth and comfortable in limited minutes.

Reggie Evans POWER FORWARD

Pass.

Mirza Teletovic POWER FORWARD

Huge fourth quarter for Teletovic. Started quietly — a short jumper on the right wing, a longer two-pointer later… Then boom, one three, boom, a long two, bang, hitting the floor with a Crash-esque ferocity to save a possession, and all of a sudden, the Nets shot their way back into a game when they were down 15 in the fourth quarter. An ill-advised late three was a killer, though.

C.J. Watson POINT GUARD

Started the game off looking like a miniature Joe Johnson, hitting open looks and a nice mid-range 17-foot floater and-1. Filled the role admirably, and since Deron Williams is big enough to guard shooting guards, they hid him on Jeremy Lin when he was on the floor. About as much as you could’ve asked or expected from Watson.