The Brooklyn Nets don’t have to wait long to extend their three-game winning streak: They’ll get a chance in Detroit tonight against the 10-13 Detroit Pistons. While the Nets have currently won three games in a row — the longest current streak in the Eastern Conference! — the Pistons are running in the opposite direction, having lost three straight by an average of nearly sixteen points per game.
The Nets have begun to look more like the team they put together conceptually in July, but with some surprise, major changes. The biggest change is that Paul Pierce has come off the bench for two straight games, leading the second unit and allowing Joe Johnson to have more offensive freedom with the starters. I mentioned earlier this week that Johnson has performed better with Pierce on the bench, and that’s been even stronger in the last two games, as Johnson continues shooting his best without Pierce on the floor.
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This follows a trend that’s gone on all season: With Pierce leading the second unit, Johnson can more comfortably run possessions and look for his shot. Here’s more on that.
Other than that, the pieces are falling into place. Kevin Garnett looks a little less shaky each game as he rediscovers his legs. Deron Williams has returned to form in the last two games, looking more like the elite point guard the Nets had for a few months last season after resting two weeks with an ankle injury. I mean, just look what he did to Chris Paul. And then look at the other thing he did to Chris Paul.
The ball movement is crisp, and Alan Anderson has been solid as the fifth man in the starting lineup. The Nets are still without two of their biggest bench pieces, forward Andrei Kirilenko and guard Jason Terry, but they’ve rolled off three straight victories with their current rotation, the last an impressive one over one of the Western Conference’s best teams.
The newest, biggest issue is the man in the middle. Brook Lopez left Thursday night’s game in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle, crumpling to the floor after a quick double-team left him flustered. The team’s All-Star center tried to play on the ankle, and even returned to the game after an initial checkup, but Nets trainer Tim Walsh soon took him out of the game and into the locker room for further work. He made the trip to Detroit — he said no matter what, he’d travel with his teammates — but wouldn’t say anything further before limping out of the Nets locker room. He’s listed as questionable for tonight’s game.
The Pistons are uniquely constructed, to say the least. Their starting lineup is Brandon Jennings, a ball-dominant point guard at point guard, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a rookie shooting guard that struggles with shooting at shooting guard, Josh Smith, a trigger-happy power forward at small forward, Greg Monroe, a Brook Lopez lite at power forward, and Andre Drummond, the next great athletic NBA center at center. Caldwell-Pope and Smith both have more field goal attempts than points, and Drummond, their most lethal offensive weapon, shoots under 40 percent on his free throws.
Got all that? Good, because they won’t in a few years. They’ve done an excellent job drafting Monroe and Drummond (though they were close to no-brainers on draft night), but after signing Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings to large long-term contracts, there’s a good chance they won’t have the money to keep both.
The Pistons provide an excellent opportunity for the Nets to continue following their blueprint. Though Lopez may not play, if they can goad the quirky Pistons offense into its own traps, and Williams can play at the level he’s played at in these last two games, they should be able to steal a game on the road heading into a two-day break.
