In a game that the Nets never led in, they also happened to get handedly beat by one of the best teams in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs. After a tight 1st quarter in which San Antonio outscored the Nets 24-22, the Spurs extended their lead with a 31-point 2nd quarter after which they held a 55-40 lead by halftime. The normal issues of bad shooting and terrible defensive rotations plagued the Nets throughout this game as they couldn't dig themselves out of the 15-point deficit they facd after two quarters.
Not surprisingly, Deron Williams was the only Nets player who provided consistent offense during the game as he scored 27 points to go along with eight assists. Like the rest of the Nets, at some points in the game D-Will settled for long, contested jumpshots that just didn't fall the whole game. Even though he did have eight free throw attempts, Deron definitely would have been more effective if he drove to the hoop earlier in the game instead of talking 3-pointers, of which he only 25 percent of last night.
As a team, New Jersey made it to the free throw line for the first time at the 3:28 mark of the 2nd quarter. As it hasn't done in recent games, the Nets' 3-pointers didn't fall as they were a dreadful 7-24 from behind the arc against the tough Spurs team. By settling for bad shots that didn't fall instead of driving to the hoop to draw fouls, the Nets blew multiple chances on the offensive end to get easier points at the foul line than harder points from 25 feet away from the basket.
Regarding the Nets' defense, it would be a shame to even say that it was existent. San Antonio toyed with the New Jersey defense as no Spur had to play more than 27 minutes because of the blowout variety that the game was included in in addition to the fact that the Spurs bench was almost as productive offensively as the starters were. Point guard Gary Neal ran circles around the guards defending him with a 8-10 performance from the field to go along with two 3-pointers, culminating in an 18-point performance.
Some other observations I had from the game: Being at the Prudential Center in person for the game, the Nets certainly fed off the solid atmosphere at the arena which helped them turn out a better performance than their last two games, both losses to the Pistons, which were played in much quieter atmospheres. Don't get me wrong, the Nets still didn't play very well last night but they were markedly better than in recent games...Marshon Brooks is still very rusty coming off of his toe injury. Marshon, who normally plays efficiently and smartly, only went 2-10 from the field and committed six turnovers. I'm not worried because I understand coming back from injuries is tough but I would like to see him return to normal form soon...Jordan Farmar turned in another solid, all-around performance with 12 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. Jordan has entrenched himself as the Nets' #1 option off of the bench both offensively and defensively and his signing two offseasons ago has become a very important one for New Jersey...Shawne Williams was beyond terrible in all aspects of basketball. He couldn't shoot (1-9 from the field), made his teammates worse (-14 in +/-, 2nd worst in the whole game), and was even brutally inept on the defensive end (got beat off the dribble by multiple Spurs no less than 6 times during the game. Yes, I did indeed start counting these instances)...For some reason, Jordan Williams only played for six minutes in the game which is simply inconceivable considering his recent stretch of solid play compounded with the fact that Avery Johnson only had 10 healthy players for the game. I blame Avery for this and I would really love an explanation as to why Jordan didn't play more, especially in a blow-out like this game turned out to be.
Looking Ahead
The Nets will try to take advantage of a rare three-game break as their next game in on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies in Newark.
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