Suns-Nets Preview

Posted Jan 10 2013 2:28PM

The Brooklyn Nets dropped their final five home games to the Phoenix Suns when they were based in New Jersey, but that streak seems poised to end.

The Nets can match a season high with their fifth straight win Friday night when they look to hand the Suns a fifth straight defeat and 12th in a row on the road.

Phoenix (12-25) has taken the last five road matchups in this series heading into its first visit to Brooklyn (20-15). The Suns, however, had Steve Nash for those contests and were a much better team than this one - Phoenix enters with the Western Conference's second-worst record, having lost 10 of 11 games overall.

This is the Suns' longest road skid since a 14-game slide from Jan. 3-Feb. 17, 1984.

"Like I said to the guys, no one's going to dig us out of this, we've got to dig ourselves out of this," coach Alvin Gentry said. "And no one feels sorry for you in the NBA."

Brooklyn, meanwhile, has won six of seven games under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo entering the opener of a three-game homestand. The Nets have beaten only one winning team in that stretch, including victories over the league's worst teams in Washington, Cleveland and Charlotte, and won't be complaining about facing another similar foe.

"We had a schedule that was favorable to us and we took advantage of it," Carlesimo said.

Brooklyn is now 14-0 against teams with losing records at the time played after its second straight 20-point win, 109-89 at Philadelphia on Tuesday. Deron Williams scored 22 points and Andray Blatche added 20 just hours after he was questioned by Philadelphia police as part of a sexual assault investigation at an upscale hotel.

Carlesimo said he did not expect the situation to distract Blatche, averaging 14.5 points on 56.8 percent shooting during this win streak.

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

Reggie Evans grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds as the Nets held a 50-32 cushion on the glass.

"It don't matter to me about scoring," said Evans, who had two points. "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."

The Suns are still one win shy of becoming the fourth NBA team to reach 2,000. Phoenix is halfway through a four-game trip after falling 87-79 to Boston on Wednesday, shooting 39.3 percent and finishing with its third-lowest point total of the season.

Luis Scola scored 16 points and Goran Dragic chipped in 14 for Phoenix.

"We always have lapses. Sometimes it happens early, sometimes it happens later," Scola said. "Even in the games we've won, we play this way."

The Nets are shooting 46.6 percent under Carlesimo as they face a Suns defense allowing opponents to shoot 47.1 percent - the West's worst mark.

Friday's game is a homecoming for Suns reserve guard Sebastian Telfair, a Brooklyn native who will play in the borough for the first time.

Joe Johnson leads Nets over Suns, 99-79

Posted Jan 12 2013 12:24AM

NEW YORK (AP) Brooklyn interim coach P.J. Carlesimo thought the Nets were lucky to have been only down by seven points in the first half against the struggling Phoenix Suns, a team that had only won twice this season on the road.

During Avery Johnson's final days as the Nets coach, that likely would have turned into a rout by the opposition.

But Brooklyn, which shot only 41.9 percent during its sluggish first half Friday night and allowed the Suns to shoot 53.7 percent, managed to bounce back with a strong second half.

Joe Johnson scored 19 points and MarShon Brooks added 17 points off the bench, leading the Nets to their fifth straight victory, 99-79 over the Suns.

"I'm very encouraged. I thought it was a great effort, considering the outplayed us in the first half," Carlesimo said. "It should have been, could have been, a lot worse at halftime than it was. It's not easy when you're not really playing (well) to all of a sudden get after it. In the second half we got after it. We defended very, very well. We were also better offensively. We really weren't good but we were a lot better than we were in the first half."

The Nets have won three straight games by 20 or more points for the first time in the team's NBA history. The last time they did so was during the franchise's days in the ABA, Feb. 19-23, 1975.

Deron Williams, who was banged up a little bit, added 14 points and Andray Blatche chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds as the Nets ended a five game home losing streak against Phoenix.

Brooklyn is 2 games behind the Atlantic Division-leading New York Knicks and have been playing better as of late.

"I think we went through some bumps and some rough patches, you know, which taught us. We are jelling a little bit more now," Williams said.

Jared Dudley led the Suns with 18 points and Shannon Brown had 15 off the bench as Phoenix lost its fifth straight and for the 11th time in 12 games.

Prior to the game, Suns coach Alvin Gentry spoke about some of the reasons why Phoenix has hit rock bottom in the Western Conference and pointed out at how the team would play well for long stretches during a game only to be outdone by spotty play during a few minutes and never recovering.

The Suns looked as if they were finally going to win on the road for the third time this season and the first time since November 27 at Cleveland but fell all apart in the second half.

Brooklyn trailed 53-46 at the half but limited the Suns to making just 9-of-38 shooting while the Nets hit 21 of 44 shots.

"Obviously it was a disappointing second half. We didn't execute offensively and we did a very poor job defensively," Gentry said. "It's almost as though we're starting to lose or confidence and we can't do that. I think you have to fight through all of that and continue to play, continue to execute. Once the game was even, I just felt like we didn't think we could win the game. We have to have our confidence when we walk out there to play. If we can play like we did in the first half, then we have to understand that we can play like that in the second half."

The third quarter has troubled Brooklyn all season but they ended up turning things around this time, outscoring Phoenix 28-13.

Suns guard Goran Dragic felt as if the Nets took away any belief they had in winning the game.

"In the third quarter we barely scored any points," Dragic said. "Our chemistry and movement of the ball was just downhill. They took our confidence away."

Brooklyn went on a 24-6 run that stretched into the fourth quarter after C.J. Watson's jumper evened it 60-all with 4:25 left in the quarter. Brooks, who had his best game of the season after not playing that much under Avery Johnson, filled in for Gerald Wallace, who left the game with an injury, scored the last six points of the quarter for the Nets.

After both teams turned the ball over to begin the final quarter, Williams drove past Dragic to make it 78-66. After a Phoenix timeout, Reggie Evans, who grabbed 15 rebounds, made a layup. Williams then found Joe Johnson to make it 81-66. Joe Johnson then came back with a 3-pointer to make it 84-66.

The Nets held Phoenix without a basket for 4 1/2 minutes before Luis Scola's jumper with 7:28 remaining in the game made it 84-68.

Brooklyn improved to 7-1 with Carlesimo as the interim coach but Joe Johnson, who felt ill and hardly got a good night's worth of sleep had no idea why the team has played so well after the dismissal of Avery Johnson.

"We have just bought into what P.J. Wants us to do on both ends of the floor. We are trying to get back to being defensive-minded and being the team we were when the season first started."

With 6:09 left in the first quarter, Wallace went for a dunk but P.J. Tucker contested the shot. Wallace landed on his right shoulder and laid on the floor while a Nets trainer checked on him. Wallace was able to walk off on his own to the team's locker room. X-rays were negative but he did bruise his ribs.

The Nets are 14-0 against teams with an under .500 record this season.

NOTES: Williams left the game briefly in the third quarter with a thigh contusion. . Brooklyn is 4-0 when holding opponents under 80 points this season, 11-1 when the opposition scores less than 90 and 18-5 when the opponents fail to score at least 100 points.

Notebook: Nets 99, Suns 79

Jake Appleman, for NBA.com
Posted Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:56 PM - Updated Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:56 PM

THE FACTS: In a classic tale of two halves, the undermanned Nets rebounded from a lackluster first 24 minutes to rout the Phoenix Suns, 99-79, at Barclays Center. The Nets improved to 14-0 when playing a team with a sub .500 record and won a third straight game by 20 or more points for the first time in franchise history. Five Nets finished in double figures, highlighted by very solid performances off the bench from MarShon Brooks (a season-high 17 points) and Andray Blatche (15 points, eight rebounds). Jared Dudley popped in an efficient 18 points for the Suns.

QUOTABLE: "We just had a talk, led by Reggie. We just had a talk. We needed to play with some energy."
-- Brooks, on the Nets focusing on turning the game around at halftime.

THE STAT: The Suns shot 9-38 (23.7 percent) in the second half and committed ten turnovers.

TURNING POINT: The Nets ran off a 10-0 run after Marcin Gortat started the third quarter with a jump shot.

QUOTABLE II: "Obviously, it was a disappointing second half. We didn't execute offensively and we did a very poor job defensively."
-- Suns coach Alvin Gentry.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Rapper Young Jeezy and model Tyra Banks attended the game.

ROOKIE WATCH: Gerald Wallace took a hard foul from P.J. Tucker midway through the first quarter. The foul was initially ruled a flagrant-1, but was downgraded to just a foul after an official review Wallace was not able to shoot the free throws and the Suns elected rookie Tyshawn Taylor to shoot. Taylor's 40 seconds in the first quarter was the only court action seen by a rookie with the outcome undecided.

NOTABLE: Joe Johnson started despite being gametime decision (illness) and scored 19 points. ... Coney Island native Sebastian Telfair scored 7 points and dished out four assists in 17 minutes. Telfair spoke fondly of the area and the arena before the game. ... The Nets' bench outscored the opposing team's bench for the fifth consecutive game. ... The Suns committed twice as many fouls as the Nets and Nets not named Reggie Evans (1-6) took advantage, converting 24 of 26. ... Deron Williams (15 points, six assists) suffered a right thigh contusion in the third quarter. He returned to the game after heading back to the locker room. "Gerald they took home and Deron has about feet of wrap and ice all around him," Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "We are hurting right now."

UP NEXT: For the Suns, Saturday @ Chicago, Monday vs. Oklahoma City, Thursday vs. Milwaukee. For the Nets, Sunday vs. Indiana, Tuesday vs. Toronto, Wednesday @ Atlanta.

• Suns: Frye, Garrett
• Nets: Stackhouse

• Suns: Scola
• Nets: --

• Lead Changes: 14
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
• Officials: #71 Rodney Mott, #65 Sean Wright, #52 Scott Twardoski
• Attendance: 16272
• Duration: 2:10