Game 19 Recap: Nets 97, 76ers 90 (OT)

Deron went nuts after his game-winning three, deservedly so

No Brook, no Marshon; no problem. The Nets played their best basketball of this young season en route to an enormous overtime over the divisional rival Philadelphia 76ers. The win was the Nets first against a team above .500 and they certainly earned it. The Sixers, a really good home team, entered the game 8-1 in games played in the Wells Fargo Center showing that they only loss at home to teams that outright perform better than they do. And oh boy did the Nets do that.

Deron Williams had possibly his best performance as a Net putting up 34 points and 11 assists and exhibited why the Nets gave up so much to acquire him from the Jazz last February. Deron put on some ridiculous moves in this game including the game-winning three in overtime in which Deron did a crazy step-back, juke sort-of-thing to free himself for the game-winning jumper which he canned. Furthermore, the Nets would have never made the overtime if Deron didn't make a clutch driving lay-up to knot up the game qt 82-82 with barely more than a second left in the 4th quarter.

Even though most of the Nets played well and contributed to the win, the story of this one was simply Deron. With Marshon Brooks still out due to injury (Achilles), Deron was given the reins to this offense and he controlled them to near-perfection. Turnovers were still a bit of an issue, but when D-Will is making turnovers it means that he is pushing the tempo which normally leads to more points for the Nets than it does for their opponents, especially tonight. For the most part, the Nets' main three-point shooters (Morrow: 5-11 FG, 2-4 3FG; Okur: 3-13 FG, 3-8 3FG; Farmar: 5-11 FG, 2-4 3FG) were making their shots which were open, in part, due to Deron's constant high-throttle style of offense that he tries to do in most games, but did so extremely efficiently tonight.

The defense/rebounding efforts of the Nets (two of the Nets' biggest weak spots in recent losses) had as much to do with the win as the offensive flurry did. The Nets outrebounded the 76ers by 8 in total and by 5 on the offensive end which helped to decrease how many chances Philly had at putting the biscuit into the basket. Shelden Williams and Mehmet Okur had decent rebound numbers (7 and 6 respectively) but the main star on the boards was Hump. Kris Humphries ripped down 19 (not a typo) boards to go along with his 13 points and was a constant presence on the interior for defense and for rebounding. The rotations on perimeter defense were also a lot sharper tonight than in recent games which really helped to limit the open looks the multiple adequate 76ers shooters had at the basket.

To sum up, tonight's game showed that these Nets aren't as bad as they appear on paper even without Brook and Marshon and that they can beat the better teams in the NBA when they make their shots and defend/rebound enough to stay in the game.

Some other observations I had from the game: All three of my keys to victory for the Nets came true as they rebounded better than the 76ers, even had a 4-point lead after the 1st quarter, and helped out Deron by finally making some shots (thanks to Morrow and Farmar). After all, maybe I do know what I'm talking about...Another low-scoring (and shooting) performance from DeShawn but he did play good defense, that guy is such as enigma to me. His defense has been solid throughout this season but his offense has been incredibly streaky, so streaky that its ridiculous...Johan Petro and Sundiata Gaines didn't enter the game and weren't hurt, so maybe they are new entrants to Avery's doghouse. I sure hope so. Also, the Nets are now 3-1 when Petro doesn't play. I don't think its a coincidence anymore...I forgot to mention this earlier, but Shawne Williams hit a huge half-court, buzzer-beater at the end of the 3rd quarter to give the Nets a 5-point lead heading into the 4th quarter. I trust him more to make a half-court shot than a 25-foot three-pointer, where did the good Shawne Williams from last year with the Knicks go?...Shelden Williams really seems to be embracing his role as a rebounder/interior defender coming off the bench really well, looks like a good signing by Billy King even though I was very skeptical of it at first.

Looking Ahead
The Nets take on the 7-10 Cleveland Cavaliers in Ohio on Friday. The Nets lost to the Cavs in Cleveland on New Year's Day. I'm pumped for Friday's game as a win could bring the Nets even closer to the #8 seed in the East and hopefully Marshon will be back by then.