After going to overtime in each game of their recent three-city road trip, Coach Jason Kidd’s Brooklyn Nets were a bit tired of playing extra basketball.
So when the Nets returned home on Friday to the friendly confines of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Paul Pierce tried to make certain in the first six minutes of the game that his team wouldn’t see overtime for a fourth straight game.
Pierce buried four threes in the first 3:40 of game action and although the Nets had to fight off several Cleveland rallies, they never trailed en route to a 108-97 victory over the Cavaliers, their 12th straight victory at home.
After the game Coach Kidd noted that although the trip through Dallas, New Orleans and Charlotte was a tiring one, the Nets brought some valuable lessons home with them and put them to good use Friday.
“We look at it as experience and learning from our mistakes on the road,” he said of the three-game trip. “We played three teams that were playing well, we went into three overtimes and we kind of learned from our mistakes. Coming in at home, guys were moving the ball and Paul set the tone early. That’s what a veteran guy does.”
After canning his four treys to stake the Nets to a 15-5 less than four minutes in, Pierce added five free throws over the next two minutes and had 17 points before the halfway point of the opening quarter. He finished the game with 22 points on 5-of-6 from three and 7-of-7 at the line. Afterward, he commented on setting a tone and credited his teammates with allowing him to do so.
“My teammates did a good job of moving the ball. It wasn’t necessarily plays being run for me. We were aggressive on offense, penetrated and made the extra pass,” he said. “The ball was moving, it was finding the open man, and once you knock the first couple down, you feel like you’re on fire. I’ve been a score my whole life and all you have to do is see one go in and you feel like all of them are going to go in.”
Led by Pierce’s quintet of triples, Brooklyn was once again outstanding from beyond the arc on Friday night. Six different players buried at least one trey, Mirza Teletovic hit 3-of-7 and Deron Williams and Joe Johnson each added a pair of triples. As a team, Brooklyn shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from deep, a key to their big win.
The game marked Brooklyn’s fourth straight with at least 25 attempts from beyond the arc and Coach Kidd was asked afterward about the team’s growing propensity for shooting the three-ball. Jason admitted that he approached players about the fact that he thought they were passing up layups to pass back out, but was reminded by Williams that doing so was a signature of J-Kidd’s own game during his playing days.
“A lot of the threes that we took tonight were open and guys were knocking them down,” Coach Kidd said. “It starts with penetration and the ball touching the paint. D-Will put it best after I thought he had a layup and he threw it out for a three, he kind of mentioned that the coach used to do that all the time. And he’s right. As long as the ball is touching the paint and we’re working inside out, I don’t mind the threes.”
Despite shooting 6-of-11 from deep in the first and establishing an early 11-point lead, the Nets found themselves tied with Cleveland at 29 after one. The game was not knotted for long, however.
The reserve group of Andray Blatche, Teletovic, Alan Anderson, Marcus Thornton, which was captained on Friday by starting guard Shaun Livingston, began the second quarter on a 12-0 run to re-establish supremacy. By halftime, Brooklyn held an 11-point lead.
Anderson (13 points), Thornton (10) and Blatche (10) were among the six Nets who finished in double figures on Friday night and Teletovic (9) came just short of being the seventh. After the game, Coach Kidd lauded the contributions coming from all over the roster and the sacrifices being made by each player to help his teammates have success as well.
“This is a special team,” Jason said. “We have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket, so we’re asking guys to make plays for one another.”
Brooklyn maintained a double-digit lead for the first nine minutes of the third, but couldn’t put the Cavs away and when Cleveland started to hit shots at the end of the third, they pulled within five. But Thornton buried a trey with 7.8 seconds left in the third to wake up the crowd and the energy carried the Nets through the fourth, as they closed out the win to make a dozen consecutive victories in front of the home crowd.
Coach Kidd was asked about the homecourt advantage after the game and though he cited a certain comfort level for the Nets on their home court, he also credited his players for taking care of business, executing the game plan and covering their assignments.
“Guys are playing extremely well here,” he said. “We feel very comfortable here. Being home has been good to us so far. But we know we still have a long way to go.”
NEXT UP
The Nets continue their three-game homestand on Sunday night at the Barclays Center as they look to extend the home win-streak to a baker’s dozen when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Tip-off of that game is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET and it can be seen on YES Network.
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