Bobcats-Nets Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Jan 22 2012 1:29AM

The New Jersey Nets are an Eastern Conference-worst 1-5 at home, hurt by a difficult schedule there over the season's first month.

They'll get a reprieve - at least from the challenging schedule - Sunday night when they host the Charlotte Bobcats.

New Jersey picked up its first home victory with a 107-100 win over Golden State on Wednesday, but had another dismal showing in front of the home fans three nights later in an 84-74 loss to Oklahoma City.

The Nets (4-12) shot 31.0 percent against the Thunder and turned the ball over 18 times - numbers that were major reasons why New Jersey failed to reach 80 points for the fourth time this season, accounting for 25 percent of its games.

Deron Williams and MarShon Brooks each scored 14 points while Kris Humphries added 12 points and 16 rebounds in the defeat.

"It just wasn't going our way," said Williams, who left briefly in the third quarter after a collision with Serge Ibaka. "We knew it was going to be a tough task and we played them pretty well the last three quarters of the game. It's just the first one seemed to cost us, and just bad shooting."

Williams shot 5 of 18, missing all six of his attempts from 3-point range. He's shooting 31.7 percent over his last four games.

Playing their final season in New Jersey before moving to Brooklyn for 2012-13, the Nets are averaging 89.3 points and shooting 38.0 percent at the Prudential Center. In their defense, all five losses have come against teams that were in the playoffs last season and have winning records in 2011-12.

The Nets would appear to have a good chance to salvage a 2-1 homestand with a win against Charlotte (3-13), which has lost five straight on the road including a 95-89 defeat at Chicago on Saturday.

The Bobcats, who have failed to reach 90 points in any of their five consecutive road losses, turned the ball over 16 times compared to eight for a Chicago team playing without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.

Gerald Henderson scored 22 points and Byron Mullens added 17, but fellow starters D.J. Augustin and Kemba Walker combined for seven points while shooting 2 of 11 from the floor. Walker - who finished with four - came in averaging 17.0 points over his previous four games.

"Somehow we didn't have the right attitude (Saturday) and it puzzled me," coach Paul Silas said. "We had three days off. I thought we'd really come out with a lot of energy and intensity (Saturday) and we just didn't have it. I don't know what it was."

Charlotte has won four of five against the Nets, including the last three meetings in New Jersey.

Nets upend Bobcats 97-87

Posted Jan 22 2012 11:52PM

NEWARK N.J. (AP) Deron Williams came close to a triple double on Sunday night.

He had 19 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 97-87 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Williams' near triple double would have been the first of the season for the Nets, who improved to 5-12 on the season.

"It was close. I've been close a number of times," Williams said. "It will happen someday."

MarShon Brooks added 20 points for the Nets, while Anthony Morrow added 19 points.

"I've been shooting a lot of 3s. I've been hitting a lot of them so I find myself settling for that shot. I need to be a little bit more efficient," Brooks said. "Early we made shots. We put up some good numbers today so that was good."

Rookie Kemba Walker led the Bobcats with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Gerald Henderson had 15 points while Bismack Biyombo and Derrick Brown had 11 each.

"I hope Kemba can continue to play well," Charlotte coach Paul Silas said. "We saw tonight he really pushed it and was into the game. If we had some of our injured guys here with him tonight, I think we would have a legitimate shot of winning the game."

The Nets got off to a strong start. Morrow's 3 early in the second quarter increased the Nets' lead to 38-25.

With less than a minute remaining in the half, he made a 3 to push the advantage to 14 at 56-42.

New Jersey led 58-42 at halftime.

"We played pretty good offense overall. The goal was to try and get to 100 points," New Jersey coach Avery Johnson said. "We figured that (the) first team to 100 would really have a chance to win.

"We made more shots tonight."

Without the injured Brook Lopez, New Jersey has relied on its perimeter shooting.

The Nets shot 38 of 86 from the field, including 7 of 27 from three.

"Normally they have a post-up they can go to," Silas said, referring to Lopez. He added, "Their 3-point shooting is really good."

Charlotte shot 46.8 percent from the field and 35.7 percent on 3-pointers.

Johnson expressed concern before the game about the Bobcats' youthful depth and that Charlotte started two point guards in Walker and D.J. Augustin.

"They are a really young energetic team (that) starts two point guards who can pass, shoot and are fast," Johnson said. "They bring a lot of young guys off the bench (and have) a lot of young guys who are athletic and quick."

Augustin played the first quarter before leaving the game because of an inflamed big right toe.

"One time when I had the ball, I tried to make a move and I lost the ball. I just couldn't get to the ball because my foot was hurting and I couldn't get back to it. That's when they took me out and I just went straight to the back," said Augustin, who grabbed a rebound and had two assists.

"Hopefully this shot situation is what I get. Hopefully it can help me and I can get back soon," he added.

Walker struggled some against the more experienced guards of the Nets. Late in the second quarter, Williams knocked the ball free to start a fast break that ended with a two-handed dunk by Kris Humphries.

"I'm going to have ups and downs. I'm trying to be consistent. But it's tough on my body," Walker said of his rookie season. When asked for his assessment of Deron Williams, Walker said, "He's a good player. He's a great player."

Notes: The Bobcats' youth coupled with the abbreviated season has Bobcats coach Paul Silas concerned about how his team will respond to the challenge. "It's tough because you don't have the practice time," Silas said. "Playing as many games as we do, you're not used to it." ... Bobcats forward DJ White missed the game with a left knee contusion.

Notebook: Nets 97, Bobcats 87

By Jake Appleman, for NBA.com
Posted Sunday January 22, 2012 9:52PM

THE FACTS: The Nets reversed their role from a night ago, and became the team that maintained an early lead all game, in a 97-87 win over the Bobcats. A night after he said he didn't like the Prudential Center, Deron Williams (19 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds) started 5-7 from the floor and looked right at home. Anthony Morrow (19 points, +12) and Jordan Farmar (13 points, 4 assists, +10) made important contributions off the bench to build the lead back up.

The Bobcats missed the presence of a healthy D.J. Augustin, who left the game midway through the first half with an inflamed right big toe.

QUOTABLE: "Our bench gave us big production tonight especially Anthony Morrow. Shawne Williams came up big for us, Farmar made some shots, so had a nice synchronized rotation going."
-- Nets Coach Avery Johnson

THE STAT: The Bobcats committed 12 first half turnovers, including 9 from their starting lineup, aiding the Nets' fast start. They only turned the ball over once in the second half and outscored the Nets by 6.

TURNING POINT: The Nets punished the Bobcats' second unit early in the second quarter to turn a 7-point lead into a 13-point advantage. Back-to-back buckets-a jumper and a 3-pointer-from Farmar and Morrow put the Nets up 38-25. While a pair of 3-pointers from former Net Eduardo Najera momentarily stopped the bleeding, the Nets built the lead up to 16 by halftime.

QUOTABLE II: "I was making no excuses. You guys asked me if I liked the arena. I said I didn't like the arena. No excuse for shooting bad. It has nothing to do with the arena. I'm not shooting good home or road."
-- Williams, addresses the controversy from last night surrounding his dislike of the Prudential Center.

QUOTABLE III: "I just played in the Turkish Cup in October. It was three games in three days. AAU basketball in high school, similar. But probably not, nothing compared to three NBA games in three days."
-- Williams, on the Nets finishing up a back-to-back-to-back stretch tomorrow in Chicago.

INSIDE THE ARENA: With the Giants playing in the NFC Championship game at the same time, few fans turned out, although some came to support Kemba Walker, who is from the Bronx.

ROOKIE WATCH: MarShon Brooks (20 points, 6 rebounds) led the Nets in scoring and took over early in the fourth quarter when he scored 6 points in under a minute. ...Walker (16 points) started the game explosively, scoring 11 first quarter points-almost tying his season average-while only attempting 5 field goals. But with a 1-8 stretch after that, he regressed closer to his 38 percent season shooting average as the game went on. ...Bismack Biyombo (6 points) was athletic and active in his 18 minutes, and even effective at times during the Bobcats' late fourth-quarter surge.

NOTABLE: Biyombo and Tyrus Thomas both soared to make highlight reel rejections for the Bobcats. ...The Nets scored their first 10 points of the game in the paint.

UP NEXT: For the Bobcats, Tuesday vs. New York, Wednesday @ Washington, Friday @ Philadelphia. For the Nets, Sunday vs. Charlotte, Monday @ Chicago, Wednesday @ Philadelphia, Friday @ Cleveland.

• Bobcats: Maggette, Williams
• Nets: James, Lopez, Williams

• Bobcats: --
• Nets: --

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
• Officials: #38 Michael Smith, #9 Derrick Stafford, #28 Tommy Nunez Jr.
• Attendance: 10035
• Duration: 2:01