Okay, so one way to grade Williams is to look at the last few minutes, when the Nets fell apart, and stick him for it. That’s fair. For the course of the game, Williams was far better than those few minutes, so my grade’s probably more inflated than those of you angry about the last few.
Williams airballed his first 3 and missed another jumper inside, which set the table for yet another “oh, great, Deron Williams still couldn’t score a cardboard box” game. Three quick threes later and that clearly wasn’t true, though his offense stalled a bit after that hot first-quarter stretch. Got to the line early often, and thought his passing was better than a five-assist game, but not a “superstar” night by any means. And, he did miss the shot out of a poor isolation that would have tied the game.
Up-and-down fourth quarter; hit tough fadeaways and shots in the post all game, most notably in that fourth, but committed six of the Nets’ 18 turnovers, including a crucial one late in the fourth quarter that led to a game-tying dunk from Luol Deng.
Irreplaceable. Didn’t do much in the first half offensively outside of clanking a corner 3 off the side of the backboard, but played about as sublime a Gerald Wallace game in the second half as you can ask for: with two left corner threes in the third, grabbed boards, and pinned three ferocious blocks at the rim — the first pinning a dunk in between the rim and the backboard, the second and third ending sure dunks. He flies on and off the floor with reckless, wonderful abandon.
A better game than his usual fare lately, but still not at the level Hump played at in the past two seasons. Connected with D-Will for a nice fast-break layup in the first half, hit a wild-for-Humphries turnaround in the third quarter with the shot clock running, and then promptly airballed on the next possession. Didn’t have a poor defensive game, though Taj Gibson’s length was clearly a problem for him.
The phrase “feathery touch” is entirely cliche unless you’re applying it to Brook Lopez. Lopez hit his first five shots, all quick catch-and-shoots (except one drag post-up on Joakim Noah) in the 7-10 foot range in the first half. Played some nice defense for his standards, including a couple of nice clean blocks, and ended the game with 10 rebounds en route to his first double-double since his return from injury. I can’t wait until his minutes limit is lifted.
You can never say that the game is uninteresting with Andray Blatche the Brooklyn Net in it. There are moments when Blatche gets the ball and you just know not another soul is going to touch it on that possession. It’s worked an odd amount of times this season.
Didn’t do anything of note, but +8 in 7:44. #FreeMarShon
Evans’ quietest roar yet.
