In tonight’s All-Star game, Deron Williams showed that it is not only Jeremy Lin that can trigger a Williams three-point shooting barrage, as DWill hit four triples in just 18 scintillating minutes, finishing with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
Williams was part of a crunch time Eastern Conference lineup that included Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard. This particular five for the East made a furious comeback and nearly stole a game that the West led for its entirety.
Right in the middle of the run was Williams who was doing his normal Williamsy things that we’ve come to expect: drilling threes off of screens, drilling threes in transition, crossing over and getting to the rim and his steal and lay-up brought the East to within a point with just 1:40 to go.
The ending was not storybook, however. Trailing by two, Eastern Conference coach Tom Thibodeau had a full buffet of options to go to for his final shot and surely the world thought the play would go to LeBron James, who was hitting three-pointers while practically sitting in the laps of those in court-side seats. Nonetheless, Thibs drew up a play for DWill which actually got him a super clean look, however, his three point attempt missed badly and the East didn’t get another opportunity.
And so ended All-Star weekend for the Nets who were represented quite well throughout the whole weekend. We’ll have more looking back at the first half of the season and looking ahead to the second half tomorrow. Stay tuned.
