Over the summer, Kobe Bryant said in reference to an 0-9 night by Williams that he’d rather go 0-30 than 0-9, because only taking nine shots means you psyched yourself out of the game.
Williams responded candidly, saying “If I’m 0-for-f**king-9, I’m not shooting 20 more shots. Not going to happen. I’m a point guard. I’m going to find somebody else.”
After a nearly identical night, going 0-8 from the field in the team’s 88-70 win, Williams found another spot to take a playful dig at Bryant’s comment.
“It was just one of those nights where the ball wouldn’t fall in the basket. Guess I should’ve shot about 20 more shots,” Williams said with a smile.
It was the type of game Williams promised he’d have if he was having a poor shooting night. While Bryant might choose to shoot his way out of (or further into) the slump, Williams kept the ball moving, finishing the game with 10 assists and three steals. Most of Williams’s assists came at shots going towards the basket, and his effective passing attack helped keep the Nets afloat even as they struggled with Philadelphia’s perimeter-oriented attack.
“Our ball movement was great tonight,” Williams said. “We had 25 assists, and got a lot of opportunities out of the pick-and-roll. (Mason Plumlee) played great out of the pick-and-roll, and had a big night for us.”
