Check out the advanced-stat box score from last night’s 95-78 Nets victory/Deron Williams explosion here.
A few scattered thoughts:
- Deron Williams only had five assists!? Slacker. And he shot more than three times as many three-pointers as his recorded assists? Selfish, good for nothing ballhog, I tell you. No wonder he was recently listed as one of the NBA’s most overpaid players.
- Just kidding, of course. If you weren’t watching the first five minutes of last night’s game, the mood was palpable awe: everyone in the arena knew after he hit his first two that he was just in full-bore heat-check mode, (except, apparently, the Wizards) and he kept firing and firing. The place went bonkers, and you don’t need to see his .854 effective field goal percentage or 162 offensive rating to understand it. The entire time he had the ball in his hands, nobody could look away. The entire arena wanted him to break the record, almost as much as they wanted Reggie Evans to hit those free throws. (Almost.)
- Side note: the Nets showed on the jumbotron that D-Will had broken the record for most three-pointers in a half, but I don’t remember hearing them say it over the PA. Seems like a wasted opportunity, no?
- Never forget: Reggie Evans was 5-16 from the line last night and his last two free throws (both makes) were by far the most exciting shots of the night on a night that an NBA shooting record was broken. Looks like Reggie’s plus-minus with the Big 3 is trending up now.
- In a chicken-or-the-egg question, it’s hard to tell if the Nets never really got in an offensive rhythm outside of Williams because Williams was so hot from everywhere, or if Williams’s Maku-Maku dirt-roading of the offense kept everyone out of a rhythm. The game was a blowout so it’s not a big deal, but outside of D-Will and weirdly Reggie Evans the Nets as a whole shot 27% (14-51) from the field. Williams won’t hit 11 three-pointers every night.
- Lost in the madness: the Nets made one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA look like the worst offensive team in the NBA, diverting drives from the basket (outside of a few nasty occasions) and forcing Washington to rely on pull-up jumpers and three-pointers, which aren’t their strong suits. Nene and Kevin Seraphin had some nice moments, but despite 18 turnovers from Brooklyn, the Wizards never got into a rhythm in transition — which is what killed the Nets in their last trip to Washington. For what feels like the first time ever, the Nets outscored their opponent in transition, 11-9.
