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Kris Humphries, PF 30 MIN | 1-4 FG | 1-2 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 3 PTS | -17
Super quiet first half for Humphries scoring zero points. His second half wasn’t any better. Finished the night with an atypical three points and also had five turnovers which is high for a guy who should only be catching and finishing. |
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Shelden Williams, PF 14 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-2 FT | 9 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -13
Did not play significant minutes tonight, but did manage to grab five offensive rebounds. The only problem is, Williams does not have the lift or craft to finish inside when he has his hands on the ball close to the basket. |
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Deron Williams, PG 33 MIN | 8-20 FG | 5-6 FT | 4 REB | 6 AST | 24 PTS | -11
Avery made a decision to start Deron off the ball in the beginning of the game perhaps to get his offense going and it worked. He was coming off screens very well in the first quarter and scored 10 points. His offense kept the Nets in the game in the first half. On a night when the rest of the gang really didn’t have it, DWill still brought it and competed. Just no help tonight. |
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Anthony Morrow, SG 27 MIN | 5-13 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 14 PTS | -19
He was the only other player to join Deron in trying to score. The Nets were running their offense through him early on with his matchup against Jose Calderon. He scored in a variety of ways, beyond the arc, off pin-downs, in post ups. |
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Jordan Farmar, PG 20 MIN | 3-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 8 PTS | -7
Lots of long two-pointers that didn’t go down. Continued firing and continued attacking. He still is the only player other than Deron Williams who can consistently create off the dribble so we need him to be aggressive when he’s on the floor. But if his shot isn’t falling his game limits. |
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Larry Owens, F 20 MIN | 2-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -13
Played solidly when he was in the game. Made good cuts to get him open under the rim. Potentially could see him earning himself more minutes if he continues solid play. |
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Johan Petro, C 23 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 4 PTS | -3
Had two violent dunk finishes and provided some activity in our frontline. Highlight of the night included his block on a DeMar DeRozan poster attempt in which he told DeMar afteward to “get that $@!# outta here!” |
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MarShon Brooks, G 22 MIN | 3-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 6 PTS | -10
Seemed indecisive on offense. Not sure when to attack, got caught in the air making passes. He also passed up a lot of open jumpers in favor of trying to pump fake and create more. His game simply wasn’t there tonight. Hopefully this was a result of rust and not his achilles bothering him. |
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Four Things We Saw
- Nets starting lineup outside of Deron Williams and Anthony Morrow was a combined 2-8 from the field. Obviously our low scoring output was a product of this. We’ve certainly seen better days from this crew, but the Nets looked not disinterested on this night.
- Stagnant offense. I will potentially have to dip into the numbers to see if it’s backed up but it seems like the Nets were running a higher than usual number of isolation plays tonight. Perhaps it was to exploit potential matchups they thought they had against Calderon or Jerryd Bayless, but the good ball movement that we saw against Cleveland was all but gone tonight.
- Just an overall lack of energy which is inexcusable as they were returning to their home building. Surprising especially after all the good feelings from the two game winning streak and the playoffs suddenly creeping back into the picture. Certainly a great opportunity for the Nets to build momentum into their season, but hopefully this was just a bump in the road.
- ESPN analyst and long-time NBA player development coach David Thorpe implores all of his players to practice their free throw stroke without the ball before taking a shot. He likens the idea to a golfer practicing their putting stroke before a putt. Anyways, Thorpe listed players he knows currently using this technique (Steve Nash, Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah, Nene and Ray Allen is who he listed). Since reading that, I’ve noticed Deron Williams employing that same technique. Can’t say that I know he’s done it his whole career, but something to keep an eye on. Williams shooting 83% this year is a career 80% free-throw shooter.
