 Deron Williams 6-17 FG | 2 REB | 14 AST | 15 PTS | -12 Fourteen assists? Fine. Six-for-seventeen shooting and six turnovers? Not fine. Not fine at all. Sorry Deron, you’re the leader, our obvious best player. We need you to shoot the ball better. You’ve shot 34% this season and that is unacceptable. Remember when you dropped 50 in Turkey? Yeah, do that more. You create great looks and make your teammates better. But you can’t be the best player on the team and shoot six-for-seventeen. |
 |
 Anthony Morrow 6-11 FG | 4 REB | 2 AST | 20 PTS | -4 Morrow has definitely found his shot again. He hit a couple of key shots in the fourth quarter, but his blown defensive rotations seriously kill the Nets night in and night out. But the one thing he is really good at, he did well tonight. |
 |
 Kris Humphries 4-7 FG | 7 REB | 1 AST | 13 PTS | +13 I think I’m just going to come out with it: Kris Humphries has been the Nets best player this season. He doesn’t always have the best stats (he didn’t tonight), but Hump and Brooks are really the only guys who are hustling all over the floor and playing tough, aggressive basketball. Tonight, Humphries wasn’t his usual self in terms of rebounding (going up against Horford and Smith will do that), but he still played good, physical basketball for 26 minutes. He is clearly playing angry, and you know what happens when Hump is angry… |
|
 Johan Petro 4-8 FG | 5 REB | 1 AST | 8 PTS | +/- Missing layups, bobbling great Deron Williams passes and failing to rebound is what Johan Petro did tonight. This guy is so frustrating and he played as many minutes as Humphries. I’m giving Petro an “F”, but I don’t even know if he actually deserves it or I just hate watching him play basketball and I’m now stuck wearing “Anti-Petro” blinders. Ugh. |
 |
 Shelden Williams 3-6 FG | 3 REB | 1 AST | 8 PTS | -2 Statistically, Shelden Williams did no better than Johan Petro, but I would just rather see him in the starting lineup while we wait for Mehmet Okur to come back. He’s just tougher in the paint and less of an offensive liability. |
 |
 Shawne Williams 4-10 FG | 5 REB | 0 AST | 11 PTS | +2 He had his first meaningful game in a Net uniform. Shawne displayed some nice range, shooting 50% from behind the arc which is always great to see. A good energy guy of the bench and certainly helped the Nets get out of their shooting slump this season. |
|
 MarShon Brooks 7-14 FG | 10 REB | 0 AST | 19 PTS | -8 A fine performance in his second start, but was a huge liability on defense. MarShon shot the ball well all night, and surpisingly, led the team in rebounds. Brooks and Humphries were all over the floor–the former especially. I appreciate his hustle, determination and his first career double-double. Only knock against him was blown defensive rotations. He left Radmanovic open all night and was lucky he didn’t make more threes. |
 |
 Brook LopezWe miss you Brook. Please come back to us. Please. |
 |
Five thoughts on the game
- 1. Let’s start with a positive. Drumroll: for the first time this season, the Nets shot above 40% from the field! What? Above 45%? The Nets? Yes, it’s true. The Nets had a solid day shooting the basketball. They even continued the trend of the last few games of shooting well behind the arc (50% tonight). Shockingly, the only Net that didn’t shoot well tonight was Deron Williams–the guy who was lights out from the field just a few months ago in Turkey. I’m not sure what is going on with his jumper, but the other seven players shot just fine today.
- 2. 46% shooting is great and all, but it’s tough to win when your opponent shoots 53%. The Nets are absolutely clueless on defense. They don’t rotate, they leave guys (like
Vladimir Radmanovic and Jeff Teague) open and they were completely dominated on the defensive glass. Perimeter rotation is especially bad. Brooks is lucky that Radmanovic only went four-for-eleven behind the arc because he could have had made much more. It’s getting increasingly frustrating to watch the Nets get burned on defense by the simplest of ball movements on offense. - 3. Lack of depth. The Nets looked pretty winded tonight, and I’m not sure why Avery didn’t give Gaines, JWill or Horner any minutes at all. It’s tough to beat an aggressive and defensively dominant Hawks team with only eight guys. JWill could have been used in the paint tonight, especially with the lack of talent in Petro and, to a degree, Shelden Williams.
- 4. Going off that, I missed Brook. Yup. Brook Lopez was certainly missed, right from the moment they re-aired his goofy interview from Saturday on YES. The Nets are missing a low-post threat. Ian Eagle made a great point–having that guy in the paint who can put up points is useful, even if all he does is make some baskets. The Nets needed his toughness and even his rebounding. Humphries has had a solid season, no doubt. But he simply isn’t “big” enough (in every sense of the word) to handle Horford and Smith by himself.
- 5. On to the next one. It’s obvious that despite losing the last two games, the Nets have gotten better–especially since the last time they played Atlanta. They are shooting better and playing well together. The problem is, they don’t have a ton of talent to work with. Deron is in a shooting slump, Brook is hurt, MarShon–despite his numbers so far this season–is only a rookie, and Humphries simply isn’t talented enough to make up for all the poor play. The Nets need someone to step up or get somebody who can.
