Nets-76ers Preview

Posted Jan 07 2013 12:15PM

While the streaking Brooklyn Nets continue to show improvement under P.J. Carlesimo, the Philadelphia 76ers are happy to finally be home as they begin yet another set of back-to-back games.

The Nets look to make it four straight wins Tuesday night when they visit a 76ers team playing its first home game since Dec. 21.

Since firing Avery Johnson on Dec. 27, Brooklyn (19-15) has won five of six with Carlesimo as interim coach. Six Nets scored in double figures in a 113-93 rout of Sacramento on Saturday.

"We're getting our confidence as a group, we're getting our trust," said center Brook Lopez, who scored a team-high 18 points in 16 minutes.

Philadelphia (15-20) is beginning its fourth consecutive set of back-to-back games, but at least it will have enjoyed two days of rest before this one. The 76ers capped a 2-6 trip with three such sets of contests, and fell 109-85 at Oklahoma City on Friday and 109-86 to San Antonio the next night.

"The last two nights I think it kind of wore on us," said reserve center Spencer Hawes, who scored a season-high 22 points against the Spurs. "We're not here to make excuses but when you look at the standings, we don't have the best record right now, we're not playing the best but I think we have the opportunity to turn it around quickly and we're still right in the mix."

The Sixers are starting a stretch in which they'll play 13 of 15 at home, though they'll travel to Toronto on Wednesday. They remain optimistic despite poor results on a trip that began with a 95-92 loss to Brooklyn on Dec. 23 - Philadelphia's last game against an Eastern Conference foe.

"I have never experienced a road trip like this where it's three back-to-backs in a row and we played some of the best teams in the league and even before that we started off with Brooklyn," said leading scorer Jrue Holiday, averaging 14.0 points in his last three games after averaging 25.3 over his previous three. "It was tough, but as a team we grew from it."

Last month's victory over the 76ers was Johnson's final one as coach. Joe Johnson led Brooklyn with 22 points while Holiday paced Philadelphia with 24 and nine assists.

Another change from that contest for Brooklyn is the emergence of second-year guard MarShon Brooks, who was getting inconsistent minutes under Avery Johnson and did not play in the first matchup. Brooks has turned in his two highest-scoring efforts under Carlesimo - and highest of the season - after a 15-point performance Saturday.

"I'm not looking over my shoulder (now). I'm just going out there and having fun," Brooks said. "That's kind of the way I play."

Brooklyn is averaging 101.3 points under Carlesimo - 112.7 during the win streak - after averaging 94.5 in its first 28 games. The Nets are also enjoying a rebounding margin of plus-4.0 under their new coach after it was plus-1.2 previously.

Lopez has also responded positively to the coaching change, averaging 23.7 points and 59.8 percent shooting. Three of his five highest totals in free-throw attempts have come in the last six games.

Evans, Williams lead Nets to 109-89 win over 76ers

By DAN GELSTON
Posted Jan 08 2013 10:56PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) P.J. Carlesimo had little patience for questions about Andray Blatche before the Brooklyn Nets routed the Philadelphia 76ers.

"He's been playing well and I expect him to play well today," he said.

Blatche did play well, scoring 20 points hours after he was questioned by Philadelphia police as part of a sexual assault investigation at an upscale hotel. He helped the Nets improve to 6-1 under Carlesimo with a 109-89 win over the 76ers on Tuesday night.

Blatche didn't make himself available to the media at the Wells Fargo Center.

Blatche, who wasn't charged, wrote about the incident on Twitter: "Im ok and I didn't do anything jus was n the area when it happened." Blatche later took down the tweet.

"We've had to deal with some adversity the last couple of weeks," guard Deron Williams said. "But we're a resilient group. We stick together as a team and we did that tonight."

Blatche didn't look at all affected by the police investigation. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said Blatche was among the witnesses interviewed by police Tuesday. Ramsey told reporters that preliminary findings of the investigation show Blatche wasn't involved.

Officer Jillian Russell said the possible assault reportedly happened around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday in a room at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Police told WCAU-TV that a 21-year-old woman was taken from the hotel to a hospital.

Photographers snapped photos of Blatche as he left the Four Seasons and as he arrived at the arena.

"NBA players are resilient," said Carlesimo, who still has an interim tag. "That is one of their traits. They come to play."

Reggie Evans grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds, and Williams scored 22 points for the Nets.

Evans dominated on the glass, outrebounding the undersized Sixers 23-22 through three quarters. Evans had 22 rebounds against Seattle in 2006.

Up by one at halftime, the Nets routed the Sixers in the third. Joe Johnson, who scored 15 points, and Gerald Wallace each hit 3-pointers during a game-changing 16-2 run to open the quarter. The Nets made 14 of 19 shots in the third to stretch the lead to 23 points.

Evans, a former Sixers player, fell six rebounds shy of the NBA season high of 29, set by Orlando's Nikola Vucevic.

The Sixers traded Vucevic after his rookie season to the Magic as part of the four-team deal that sent Andrew Bynum from the Los Angeles Lakers to Philadelphia. The Sixers were counting on Bynum to become the dominant center in the East and lead them deep into the postseason, but he has yet to play this season because of bone bruises on his knees. There's no date for a possible return. Without Bynum, the Sixers are getting outrebounded this season and entered the game ninth in the East.

Evans had 16 rebounds (12 defensive) by halftime, three fewer than Philadelphia's total. He had 20 rebounds with 6:54 left in the third, one more than the Sixers. He finished with 17 defensive rebounds, but scored only two points.

"It don't matter to me about scoring," Evans said. "We've got guys in here that can go out and score 100 points every night. When I score, it's a bonus. I just want to go out, do what I do, and get wins."

Jrue Holiday scored 19 points and Spencer Hawes had 14 for the Sixers, who stumbled home from a 2-6 trip and on a three-game losing streak.

Philadelphia shot 50 percent in the first half and trailed only 48-47 at the break, but the Sixers never got into a groove in the second half and were booed off the court to end the third quarter.

Most of the 16,167 fans headed to the exits in the fourth. The few that remained at the end saw the Sixers lose their third straight game by at least 20 points. The Sixers went straight to the plane for their game Wednesday night in Toronto.

There was another huge disparity at the free-throw line between the Sixers and the Nets. Brooklyn was 21 of 30 from the line; 76ers were 6 of 10. Over the last 15 games, opponents are averaging 19.2 free throws made, while the Sixers are averaging only 14.7 free-throw attempts.

"I've never seen anything like it," Philadelphia coach Doug Collins said.

Collins refused to discuss the situation further, saying he didn't want to get fined. The suggestion was, the Sixers aren't getting calls from the officials.

Evan Turner, who didn't go to the line in 36 minutes, said the Sixers did their part to drive the paint and draw fouls.

"For the past few years, we haven't really gotten calls," he said. "That's not on us anymore. Anybody can make it. We talk about it. We get to the paint. We get hit. We get slapped ... You can't worry about what you can't control."

Notes: Actor Mark Wahlberg was at the game. ... Philadelphia Flyers Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Matt Read received a huge ovation when they were introduced to the crowd. ... The Sixers signed G Maalik Wayns to a 10-day contract. ... Nets F Kris Humphries played after missing two games because of a sprained left ankle. ... The Nets are 10-2 when scoring over 100 points.

Notebook: Nets 109, Sixers 89

Andy Jasner, for NBA.com
Posted Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:44 PM - Updated Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:44 PM

THE FACTS: Deron Williams scored 22 points, Andray Blatche contributed 20 points off the bench and Reggie Evans swept a career-high 23 rebounds as the Brooklyn Nets crushed the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-89, Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Joe Johnson scored 15 points, Brook Lopez had 13 and Gerald Wallace had 11 for the Nets, who improved to 6-1 under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo. Brooklyn improved to 20-15 with the victory.

Jrue Holiday paced the Sixers with 19 points, Spencer Hawes had 14 points off the bench and Nick Young chipped in with 11. It was the fourth straight loss for Philadelphia, which dropped to 15-21.

QUOTABLE: "I don't need to score. I just do what I do to get wins."
-- Reggie Evans, on his career night off the glass.

THE STAT: The Nets outrebounded Philadelphia, 50-32. At one point in the second half, Evans was actually outrebounding the entire Sixers team.

TURNING POINT: The Nets built a slim 48-47 lead at halftime before opening the third quarter on an 18-2 run for a commanding 66-49 advantage. That was more than enough of a cushion to cruise the rest of the game.

HOT: Williams was 7-for-11 while Lopez was 6-for-10. Holiday knocked down seven of his 11 shots for the Sixers.

NOT: Jason Richardson missed six of his nine shots, including all four from beyond the arc for the Sixers.

QUOTABLE II: "It just looked like we were fresher."
-- Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Johnson had 15 points, five assists, four rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot. It was a very effective all-around performance.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The crowd was relatively quiet for much of the game. One of the largest cheers in the first half came when a trio of Philadelphia Flyers were announced -- Matt Read, Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux. Mark Wahlberg was also in attendance. But when the lead swelled beyond 20, any cheers that were prevalent quickly turned to boos.

QUOTABLE III: "As a team, we've got to stay confident. We've got to try to get right back at it."
-- Sixers guard Evan Turner.

GOOD MOVE: The Nets did a terrific job of exploiting the Sixers' weakness in the middle. Even when shots weren't falling, Evans was there to pick up virtually every loose ball.

BAD MOVE: Holiday started hot but the Sixers inexplicably went away from him. They probably could have run a lot more offense through their potential All-Star.

ROOKIE WATCH: Nets guard Tyshawn Taylor was scoreless in a brief 4:04 stint while forward Mirza Teletovic had eight points in 14 minutes. In addition, forward Tornike Shengelia added two points. For the Sixers, forward Arnett Moultrie was scoreless with one rebound in 6:06 while guard Maalik Wayns had seven points in 8:34. Wayns was re-signed earlier Tuesday to a 10-day contract after being waived two days ago.

NOTABLE: Nets guard-forward Jerry Stackhouse missed the game because of personal reasons. ... Sixers reserve center Kwame Brown was out because of a death in the family. ... The Sixers have scored below 90 in six of the past seven games. ... The Nets improved to 10-2 when eclipsing the 100-point mark. ... Philadelphia fell to 2-11 when giving up 100 or more points. ... Brooklyn is averaging 102.9 points per game in the seven games under Carlesimo. This victory snapped the Nets' 24-game streak of scoring below 100 against the Sixers. ... Evans' previous career-high of 22 rebounds came for Toronto against the Sixers on Nov. 24, 2010. ... The Nets led by as many as 26 points.

NEXT: For the Nets, Friday vs. Phoenix, Sunday vs. Indiana, Jan. 15 vs. Toronto. For the Sixers, Wednesday @ Toronto, Saturday vs. Houston, Jan. 15 vs. New Orleans.

• Nets: Stackhouse
• 76ers: Bynum

• Nets: --
• 76ers: --

• Lead Changes: 6
• Times Tied: 6

• Arena: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #40 Leon Wood, #45 Brian Forte
• Attendance: 16167
• Duration: 2:00