Game 53 Recap: Nets 102, Warriors 100

Crash was unbelievable, who needs a lottery pick?

Well, that was weird. After the first three quarters of the game in which they played their worst basketball of the season, the Nets roared back from a 19-point deficit to steal a road win from the Golden State Warriors. Golden State raced out to a quick 11-4 run to start the game off and built up that lead over the next few quarters and eventually went into full-on blow-out mode by the 4:35 mark of the 3rd quarter. At that point, the Nets had simply given up on playing defense, were taking terribly contested shots, and were committing turnovers left and right constantly.

Then, something unbelievable happened. The Nets started to actually defend some Warriors players and even made the occasional drive to the hoop. They cut the deficit to 14 points by the end of the 3rd and cut it to one point on a Deron Williams 3-pointer with 2:27 left in the game. Then, on the strength of a Kris Humphries free-throw and a few Gerald Green baskets, the Nets took their first lead of the game since holding a 4-3 early in the 1st quarter. Heck, it wasn't easy but it's result that truly matters, not how you got there.

For most of the night, offense was a real struggle for the Nets as they just couldn't knock down the same open looks that Golden State was. Deron Williams and Anthony Morrow, two of the guys that the Nets rely on the most for their offense, just couldn't get it going from the field and combined for 2-19 shooting. However, D-Will's ball-distribution skills were still present evidenced by his 20 assists. Last night's game showed just why Deron is in the top-three point guard conversation of the whole NBA; even when he doesn't have his A-game, he still makes his teammates better with his great ball movement capabilities.


Also, Gerald Wallace went absolutely nuts on all ends of the floor, living up to his nickname of "Crash" perfectly. 24 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, six steals. These are all Wallace's stats from the game but they don't include the fact that he basically saved the game for the Nets late in the 4th quarter. Warriors guard Charles Jenkins had a decent game-tying shot opportunity but with the flick of a wrist, the last-second attempt was rejected by the super-athletic Wallace who was simply everywhere in the game. Starting to think that trade was a smart move for the Nets.


Some other observations I had from the game: Gerald Green continued to show that he deserves to be an NBA player with a 20-point game on 8-12 shooting. Green can get his own shot opportunity with ease which is beyond crucial for a Nets offense that is prone to long dry spells...The team really misses Shelden Williams and Jordan Farmar. Petro, filling in for Shelden, did manage to score eight points and collect seven rebounds but was completely inept on defense, especially against David Lee who scored 28 points with relative ease. Regarding Sundy Gaines, Farmar's replacement, was bad yet again and he simply doesn't know how to run the team's offense without a ton of influence...Marshon Brooks recessed back into his slump by only playing 16 minutes and by shooting just 3-6 from the field...Like Wallace, Hump had a nice 20-point, nine-rebound performance and was really tough for the soft Golden State team to handle, even for David Lee...The Nets outrebounded the Warriors by a margin of 12 (44-32) which led to much more scoring chances for New Jersey which served as the difference to the game...The defense stepped up when it was needed but still did allow the depleted Warriors team to shot nearly 53 percent from the field.


Looking Ahead
The Nets head north to play the Sacramento Kings later tonight.