Net Worth: Celtics 94, Nets 82

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Boston Celtics 94 Final
Recap | Box Score
82 New Jersey Nets

Game Grades

Kris Humphries, PF 34 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 10 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -11

Had a tough time against Brandon Bass which is pretty inexcusable, because Hump is no doubt a better power forward. The ten rebounds is nice, but if you are going to be playing thirty-three minutes a game and (supposedly) be our primary guy in the post, you need to put up more than six points. His lack of an offensive game certainly did not make the second half collapse any more difficult.

Deron Williams, PG 34 MIN | 3-12 FG | 6-7 FT | 0 REB | 14 AST | 12 PTS | -16

I thoroughly enjoyed the D-Will/Rondo battle tonight. He was distributing all night, and, along with Jordan Williams, was the primary reason the Nets were in this game at all. He had some great looks and was the only one willing to give the ball up. He and Avery were getting pretty fed up with the refs tonight and I was surprised at least one of them didn’t get kicked out of the game. Showing a little bit of fire, especially now when the Nets are playing for nothing but pride, is a good showing. You’d like to see him shoot better than 3-12, but his counterpart wasn’t much better.

MarShon Brooks, G 36 MIN | 6-17 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 13 PTS | -15

Okay, he’s been playing better as of late, I will give him that. But tonight he took seventeen shots and made six. He put up some nice jumpers, but as a whole, put out a chucker performance. Also, what was the deal with Avery Bradley? Has he always been this good? This could very well be me not watching enough of the Celtics, but Brooks has to take a lot of that blame for Bradley’s dominant performance against our Nets.

Gerald Green, SG 29 MIN | 6-14 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 15 PTS | 0

Greensanity again tonight. Now that Gerald Wallace is likely out for the next six games, can we bring back the #StartGeraldGreen movement? We’ve proved here that Green is not just a dunker, and he continued that showing again tonight. He made shots all over the floor tonight and brought his usual energy off the bench.

Jordan Williams, F 29 MIN | 6-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 14 REB | 0 AST | 12 PTS | -5

Nets MVP tonight and his best game in a Nets uniform. Just an A+ performance out of the #36 pick in the draft. These are kinds of games I expect him to have in the future for New Jersey, just being a beast in the paint, catching and dunking. It’s too bad he came into camp out of shape, dehydrated, because he is clearly more useful at this point in his career than Petro ever has been. Keep ‘em coming.

Five Things We Saw

  1. In honor of tonight’s game, the first half of this “Thing I Saw” will be written in perfect, grammatically correct English, whil a secnd halve will b turrible speling n puncktuachion. Go Netz!
  2. But in all seriousness, what a complete joke of a second half. They are tied going into halftime after a momentum boosting last second three by Gerald Green and come out and don’t score a single basket until the 7:10 mark of the third quarter. Then, they score a measly thirteen points in the third, and come out starting Sundiata Gaines in the fourth when they are in desperate need of some buckets. Yes, the same Sundiata Gaines who was held to four points and zero assists.
  3. Can we talk about Jordan Williams for just a second? When the Nets took him, I watched some of his game on YouTube and learned that he is primarily a paint presence and backboard destroyer. Rebounding is one skill that directly translates to the NBA from college, and I think we saw a preview of that tonight. I don’t know if J-Will will ever be a starter in the NBA, but I see no reason why he can’t that body in the paint, plugging in solid minutes every night. He is a guy we are going to be glad to have when we are stuck with Johan Petro for another season.
  4. I’m not the type to blame the refs for losses, but it is pretty ridiculous that the Nets only got to the line fourteen times, and even more ridiculous that Kris Humphries got there a staggering zero times.
  5. At this point, losses for the Nets are probably for the best. Frankly, all the commotion with this team is taking place off the court, given that the “surprising” new Brooklyn uniforms are on the horizon and the draft lottery is coming up. The way I see it, the sooner we can end this New Jersey era on Monday, the better.