Pistons-Nets Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Dec 13 2012 12:53PM

Now that the Brooklyn Nets finally have their first December win, they can focus on ending their struggles at the Barclays Center.

With their starting center expected back, the Nets look to avoid a fifth consecutive home defeat Friday night against a Detroit Pistons team that has struggled to win on the road.

Brooklyn (12-9) won seven of the first eight at its swanky new arena. However, since allowing 87.0 points per contest while winning six straight there, the Nets have given up 105.8 during their four-game home skid.

They blew a 17-point lead in a 100-97 home loss to rival New York on Tuesday, but bounced back to snap their five-game overall slide with a 94-88 win over Toronto on Wednesday.

Joe Johnson scored 23 points and C.J. Watson added 16 off the bench as the Nets overcame an eight-point halftime deficit, giving them their first win in six games this month.

"We'll take a win any way we can get it right now," said guard Deron Williams, who delivered a halftime pep talk to his teammates. "It's good to get back on a winning track. It's something we needed in the worst way."

Brooklyn hit nine of its 10 3-pointers in the second half and took control by outscoring the Raptors 31-19 in the third quarter. Johnson scored 19 in the second half.

As the Nets look to begin a win streak, they should get a boost from the expected return of Brook Lopez, who's averaging 18.5 points and 6.8 rebounds. Brooklyn lost five of seven - including the four straight home defeats - while the 7-footer sat with a sprained right foot.

Lopez averaged 21.3 points in the first eight games at the Barclays Center.

Though Brooklyn has dropped four of five against Detroit (7-17), the Pistons are 2-11 on the road. They are averaging 89.8 points and 41.4 percent shooting away from home.

Detroit snapped a four-game road losing streak with a 104-97 win over Cleveland on Saturday, but it's dropped two straight since then. The Pistons led by eight after one quarter at home versus Denver on Tuesday, but wound up shooting 42.0 percent and committing 17 turnovers in a 101-94 loss.

"You're not going to win a game 150-14," current Detroit and former Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "The key is this: A team's going to make a run. It's the mistakes we made and how they got them. With that, the mistakes, they multiplied, they came in succession so they become a little bit deflating."

Pistons guard Brandon Knight, who scored 20 on Tuesday, has averaged 24.0 points in his last three road games.

Williams has scored 24.7 points a contest and shot 50 percent (26 of 52) in three games against Detroit while with the Nets.

Nets beat Pistons in 2 OTs on Johnson's jumper

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Dec 15 2012 12:02AM

NEW YORK (AP) As Detroit kept coming back, Joe Johnson figured the game could come down to a last shot.

It did and he knew it was in as soon as it left his hands.

Johnson made a jumper from just inside the arc as time expired in the second overtime, giving the Brooklyn Nets a 107-105 victory over the Pistons on Friday night.

Johnson finished with 28 points for the Nets, scoring their final five in the second extra period. He faded backward after launching the jumper over Tayshaun Prince in something of a victory trot.

"The coaches and, like I say, my teammates have the confidence in putting the ball in my hands down the stretch, then I have to come up big for us," Johnson said.

Gerald Wallace added a season-high 25 points and 10 rebounds, Deron Williams scored 17 points and Andray Blatche had 16 for the Nets, who blew a 17-point lead, missed their first six shots in the second overtime, and still managed to win their second straight.

The Nets said Johnson's jumper was their first buzzer-beating victory since Feb. 23, 2009, when Devin Harris hit a game-winner against Philadelphia.

"We fought all game and he carried us through the fourth quarter and overtimes," Williams said of Johnson, "and I don't think anybody wanted to play a third overtime, so I guess he knew we needed to get to Chicago."

Brandon Knight scored 22 points and Rodney Stuckey had 19 for the Pistons, who dropped their third straight.

Detroit led 103-100 in the second overtime before Wallace drove into the lane to get the Nets on the board. Johnson put them in the lead with a basket in the lane, making it 104-103, and after Greg Monroe wasn't close on two free throws, Johnson added a free throw that made it 105-103 with 10.5 seconds left.

Knight missed a jumper, but the Nets' Kris Humphries tipped it right to Kyle Singler under the basket, who tied it with 5.8 seconds to go. The Nets got the ball into Johnson, who was well defended by Prince before stepping back for the long jumper that had to be reviewed to see if it was a 2-pointer or a 3.

Wouldn't have mattered. Johnson left no time for another Detroit comeback.

"It seemed like when he let it go, the ball is in the air forever," Prince said. "If it was a situation where he got in the paint and made something, then I'd be a little bit upset. But those type of shots, you can't control when a guy steps back and hits a 3-point shot for the win. I just feel so bad for our guys, man. They worked so hard for this, man. They fought and fought and fought."

Brook Lopez had nine points in 23 minutes for the Nets after missing seven games with a sprained right foot. Coach Avery Johnson said his leading scorer would be limited to about half the game, so Lopez watched the extra periods. Johnson said the Nets would evaluate Lopez to see if he would play Saturday against the Bulls.

His return made an immediate difference for the Nets in the first half, but they couldn't keep the Pistons off the backboards down the stretch, allowing them to come back.

Monroe had 17 points for the Pistons, who surrendered a 21-1 run in the second quarter, wiped out the Nets' lead by the end of the third, went ahead in the closing minutes of the fourth, but couldn't hold on to give coach Lawrence Frank, a Jersey guy and former Nets coach, a victory in his first game in Brooklyn.

"We showed great resolve, great fight and we competed extremely hard," Frank said. "There's no one there that's happy with the consolation prize, (but) disappointed that we came up short because we know we got it in both regulation and overtime. We got the stop, We just couldn't finish the play."

Detroit, which lost a basket to a shot-clock violation after a video review, blew a six-point lead in the final 90 seconds of regulation. Stuckey had three baskets in the first extra period to give Detroit a two-point lead with 41 seconds left, before Johnson tied it on a floater with 18 seconds remaining. Stuckey then missed a jumper that could have won it.

Trailing by four in the second quarter, the Nets blew by the Pistons with the big run that gave them a 54-38 lead on Blatche's layup with 2:38 to play. Brooklyn extended it to 17 points later in the period and was ahead 59-47 at halftime.

Notes: The Nets played without Jerry Stackhouse, who had a sore right knee. Johnson said Stackhouse was hurt when his leg crashed into Jason Kidd's on Kidd's tiebreaking 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in the Knicks' 100-97 victory here on Tuesday. Stackhouse was called for a foul on the play. Johnson called the collision a "rough tumble." ... Frank, who coached the Nets from 2004 until early in the 2009-10 season, praised the Barclays Center, saying he'd been invited by the Nets to attend one of the Jay-Z concerts that opened the building in September.

Notebook: Nets 107, Pistons 105

Jake Appleman, for NBA.com
Posted Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:04 AM - Updated Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:30 AM

THE FACTS: Joe Johnson's buzzer-beating jumper lifted the Nets to a 107-105 double overtime victory over the Pistons. Johnson scored 28 points and his floater in the lane sent the game into its second overtime. Gerald Wallace (25 points, 10 rebounds) contributed timely baskets and lived up to his "Crash" nickname. Brandon Knight led the Pistons with 22 points.

QUOTABLE: "When I shot it, when it left my hand, I knew it was going in."
-- Johnson.

THE STAT: The Pistons managed to get back in the game on the strength of their offensive rebounding. For the game, they scored 28 second chance points to only 12 for the Nets.

TURNING POINT: Johnson's buzzer-beater sent everyone home after fifty eight minutes of basketball.

QUOTABLE II: "You can point to a number of plays and say it was the reason we lost."
-- Pistons center Greg Monroe (17 points, eight rebounds) who missed a pair of costly free throws near the end of the second overtime.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The Nets honored the victims of the shooting tragedy in Newton, Connecticut with a moment of silence before the game. ... Comedian Jerry Seinfeld attended the game.

ROOKIE WATCH: Kyle Singler (Eight points, eight rebounds) and Andre Drummond (Eight points, nine rebounds) made solid contributions for the Pistons. Singler's layup set up the stage for Johnson's game winner.

NOTABLE: Knight scored 20 points or more for the fifth straight game. ... In his return from a foot sprain, Brook Lopez scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in 23-plus minutes of action. Playing on a minute count, Lopez did not see time in either overtime. The Nets did not disclose Lopez's status for Saturday night's game in Chicago, but Lopez said he felt good. "I felt very good there with no problem," he said. The Nets were 2-5 in Lopez's absence, the two wins bookending a five-game losing streak.

UP NEXT: For the Pistons, Saturday vs. Indiana, Monday vs. LA Clippers, Wednesday @ Toronto. For the Nets, Saturday @ Chicago, Tuesday vs. Utah, Wednesday @ New York.

• Pistons: English, Middleton
• Nets: Shengelia, Stackhouse

• Pistons: --
• Nets: --

• Lead Changes: 17
• Times Tied: 9

• Arena: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
• Officials: #17 Joe Crawford, #40 Leon Wood, #50 Olandis Poole
• Attendance: 15797
• Duration: 3:17