Before they head off their separate ways for the All-Star break, Coach Jason Kidd’s Brooklyn Nets had one more tough back-to-back to take care of and on Wednesday night they handled the first half of it with ease.
After battling the Charlotte Bobcats through a tight first half, Brooklyn found another gear in the second half and outscored Charlotte 35-19 in the third quarter on the way to a 105-89 victory. After the game, Coach Kidd complimented his team’s effort on both ends of the floor.
“It was ball movement on the offensive end,” Jason said. “Everybody was touching it. But it all started on the defensive end, getting stops and then being able to take advantage of guys moving the ball and passing up shots to make a play for their teammates. Paul
[Pierce] was great. Deron was great. Guys were on the same page and executed, and that’s what got us the lead.”Both teams came out of the gate fast, knocking down shots at a rapid pace. Brooklyn built a lead as high as nine, but by the end of the first quarter, the Nets lead was just one point, 30-29.
The Nets raised their game on the defensive end in the second quarter held Charlotte to just 15 points on 25 percent shooting (5-of-20). One key to the defensive effort was slowing Charlotte big man Al Jefferson.
Entering Wednesday’s game, Jefferson had scored 30 or more points in five of his last seven games and 20 or more in 14 of his last 15. But after Jefferson went off for 11 points in the first quarter on 5-of-9 from the field, Coach Kidd made an adjustment to the defense that changed the game.
Brooklyn kept Charlotte from getting the ball in deep to their big man, which totally shut down the Bobcats offense. Over the final three quarters, Jefferson had just one point, and was 0-for-4 from the field.
“We wanted to double-team him a little bit to not let him get in a rhythm,” Jason said. “The guys executed the game plan, double-teaming him and being able to understand how to get out of that rotation. Al has been playing at a high level, so for him to have 12 points tonight, that’s a great job fro those guys.”
On the offensive end, the Nets got key contributions all around. In the second quarter, Brooklyn’s bench carried the day. Coach Kidd’s second unit tallied 12 of the team’s 20 points in the frame and at halftime the Brooklyn lead was six points.
The third quarter was all about the starters. Deron Williams tallied seven of his 13 points and four of his seven assists in the third, Joe Johnson added six points and Paul Pierce led the way with 14 third-quarter points on 5-of-5 from the field. The performance by Pierce led the Nets to one of their best individual quarters of the season, as they shot 63 percent from the field, outscored the Bobcats 35-19 and developed a lead as high as 27 points before settling into a 22-point lead after three.
Coach Kidd lauded the efforts of his both Pierce and Kevin Garnett noting that both players have been crucial to Brooklyn’s resurgence in 2014.
“They’re the glue of this team,” Jason said. “When you look at their careers, they’ve been through a lot — slow starts, fast starts; there’s never any panic you can see in their play. Sometimes veteran guys take a little bit longer to get to the starting line, but the guys are playing at a high level and you can see that with Paul and KG.”
The outstanding effort in the third quarter by all five starters also allowed Coach Kidd to rest his lead five for the entire fourth quarter as the reserves closed out the victory.
NEXT UP
Coach Kidd expressed after Wednesday’s victory that finding rest moments to rest his starters late in games, especially less than 24 hours before another game, can be a big boost for a veteran team like the Nets. He also noted that finishing the first half strong with another win on Thursday night in Chicago is important to the group.
“A veteran ball club understands that the games right before the break are important,” he said. “You’re planning vacations or planning to go to All-Star Weekend and sometimes the games [the week before All-Star] come secondary. I thought the guys handled tonight well and now we move on and get ready for Chicago.”
The Nets and Bulls last met at a low point in Brooklyn’s season, on Christmas Day when Chicago defeated them by 17 points at the Barclays Center, leaving the Nets at 9-19 for the season afterward.
Brooklyn turned their season around shortly thereafter and they are 15-7 since that game. However, Chicago is in the midst of an upswing as well, going from 11-16 after that game to 26-25 heading into Thursday night.
“Chicago is playing extremely well,” Coach Kidd said. “They’re well-coached. This is a quick turnaround and this is a chance for us to get better in back-to-back games. A lot of guys, for the most part, didn’t play a lot of minutes [Wednesday], so we’ll see what happens [Thursday.]”
Tip-off of the game between the Nets and Bulls is slated for 8 p.m. and the game can be seen on TNT.
RELATED LINKS
Pierce leads Nets to easy win over Bobcats (NY Daily News, February 13, 2014)
Paul Pierce adds 25 points as Nets topple Bobcats (NY Daily News, February 13, 2014)
Nets beat Bobcats (Newsday, February 13, 2014)
Nets Reserves Take the Lead Once Again (New York Times, February 13, 2014)
Pierce, Garnett key to Nets victorious ways in 2014 (The Brooklyn Game, February 12, 2014)
Nearing .500 after rout of Bobcats, Nets to begin key road trip (SNY Nets, February 12, 2014)
Vets Pierce, KG giving ‘glue’ to Nets (ESPN New York, February 12, 2014)
