Magic-Nets Preview

By JORDAN GARRETSON
Posted Jan 28 2013 2:03AM

The Brooklyn Nets have been playing better basketball under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo, but have dropped two in a row after having problems defending the paint. The outlook for the Orlando Magic appears much worse, as they've lost five straight heading into a five-game road trip.

Brooklyn will try to shore up its interior defense Monday night when it goes for a four-game season sweep of the Magic, who have been shut down in the first three meetings.

The Nets (26-18) won 12 of their first 14 after firing former coach Avery Johnson, but are now coming off their first back-to-back losses under Carlesimo. The new coach was perfectly blunt in his assessment of Brooklyn's losses at Memphis and Houston on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

"We've done a horrible job defending the other team's center," he told the team's official website.

Brooklyn was outscored 60-24 in the paint in a 119-106 loss to the Rockets, one night after the Grizzlies had a 62-40 edge in that area en route to a 101-77 rout. The Nets allowed 20 points to Memphis' Marc Gasol on 10-of-15 shooting, and 20 more to Houston's Omer Asik, who was 9 of 12 from the field.

Perhaps a four-game homestand will help after four road games in six days, but Carlesimo wasn't necessarily buying that excuse.

"We can say we're tired, fourth game in six nights, out on the road and all that," Carlesimo said, "... But we're just getting annihilated on points in the paint."

The Nets' defense has been somewhat shaky most of the season. Their 46.3 percent field-goal defense ranks 28th in the league.

Saturday's contest started in promising fashion, with Deron Williams scoring 20 points in the first quarter alone. He only scored seven the rest of the game and was ejected late in the fourth quarter for arguing with an official.

The Rockets' point total was the highest allowed by Brooklyn this season.

"We've had breakdowns, man," said Joe Johnson, the team's second-leading scorer at 17.2 points per game. "Once you have one or two breakdowns, guys stop trusting one another. Then everybody kind of just locked in on their own man and that's when you get out of sync.

"Somehow, some way we've got to get back to trusting each other and playing good defense."

The Nets haven't had any trouble stifling Orlando (14-29) this season, yielding an average of 76.0 points in their three victories. A season series sweep may be especially sweet considering the Magic swept the previous three - a total of 10 meetings, in which Dwight Howard averaged 19.7 points and shot 67.3 percent.

A career high-tying 31 points from J.J. Redick couldn't keep Orlando from a 104-102 loss to Detroit on Sunday, its fifth straight defeat. Redick received little help from his teammates, particularly in the first half when he shot 7 of 10 while the rest of the Magic went 9 of 33.

Orlando misfired on three shots on its final possession of the game, squandering an opportunity to force overtime.

Glen Davis' return from a sprained shoulder Jan. 14 seemed it could help stop Orlando's slide after the Magic went 1-10 without him. But they're just 1-6 since Davis (15.5 points per game) came back.

"It just seems like it's getting more and more frustrating," Redick said. "The way we're losing is tough. But we can control our mindset, our attitude, our perspective over these last nine games before the (All-Star) break. We have a chance to use this road trip to get better, and we will."

Nets rout Magic 97-77 for 8th straight home win

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Jan 28 2013 11:12PM

NEW YORK (AP) Like Brooklyn bullies, the Nets love picking on the little guys.

They beat Orlando four times this season and are 17-0 against teams that were under .500 when they played them.

Now the big boys are coming to Barclays Center.

Deron Williams had 20 points and nine assists, and the Nets beat the Magic 97-77 on Monday night for their eighth straight home victory.

Brook Lopez scored 16 points and Joe Johnson had 13 for the Nets, who tied a franchise record with their 11th victory in January and can break it when they host the NBA champion Miami Heat on Wednesday.

"We feel pretty good here at home. We're pretty confident, we understand that we have three tough games coming up," Johnson said. "We want to take it one game at a time, prepare hard for Miami and come out with the same focus and intensity that we had tonight and we're going to try to dictate the pace of the game."

The Nets rebounded from their first two-game losing streak under P.J. Carlesimo, finishing off a four-game sweep of the Magic, who dropped their sixth straight. The Nets' home winning streak is their longest in one season since winning nine in a row in March and April, 2006.

Routed by Memphis and Houston to end their four-game road trip, the Nets quickly got back on track at home against an overmatched opponent. But now comes a difficult stretch, with Chicago following Miami into Barclays Center on Friday and the improving Los Angeles Lakers visiting next Tuesday.

"We needed this win. We needed to stop the bleeding after the two-game skid we just had and get back to playing some defense," Williams said. "We held them to 77 points today and 40 percent from the field, so that's a lot better than the last two games. Doesn't matter who the team is, we just had to get back to our principles."

Nikola Vucevic had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Magic, who lost for the 17th time in 19 games. Their last two losses had each been by two points, including Sunday against Detroit, but they were blown out of this one early.

"It's tough to continue to do the same task over and over again, and that's what we're asking of our guys. That's what we have to do in order for us to be good as a basketball team," coach Jacque Vaughn said. "We have to box out every single time, not nine out of 10 times. For the most part we've done that. We will continue to work at it."

The Nets completed their first four-game sweep of the Magic since 2003-04, the season before Orlando drafted Dwight Howard. Brooklyn led by at least 20 points in all four games.

Both coaches were quick to point out that Jameer Nelson didn't play in any of the first three meetings, but he made no difference thanks to another strong night from Williams, who set the tone with 13 points in the first quarter.

The Magic cut a 16-point halftime deficit to seven after three quarters, but the Nets responded with the first nine of the fourth quarter to push it back to 16. Brooklyn outscored Orlando 23-4 to open the final period.

"You can blame a lot of things on why the run ended, but we had guys out there fighting, playing together and trying to win," Nelson said. "We made a good push but obviously it was not good enough."

Orlando starting forward Arron Afflalo was out with a strained left calf and Hedo Turkoglu was ineffective after missing nine games while getting back in shape after a broken left hand.

J.J. Redick, who tied a career high with 31 points Sunday against Detroit while making eight 3-pointers, finished 2 of 13 from the field but set a career high with 10 assists. Nelson was 3 of 12 for nine points for the fatigued Magic, who get a nice rest, staying in New York before visiting the Knicks on Wednesday.

The Nets closed the first quarter with a 10-2 run for a 30-20 lead. Williams was 5 of 6, hitting three 3-pointers, and the Nets made 11 of 17 shots (65 percent). He has totaled 33 points on 12-of-13 shooting in his last two first quarters.

"He's had two monster first quarters in a row," Carlesimo said.

The Nets came out with the first eight points of the second, opening a 38-20 cushion on Andray Blatche's jumper with 9:17 left in the half.

Down 56-40 at the half, Orlando trimmed it to 70-63 after three but had to keep four starters on the floor the entire period. They rested to start the fourth and the Nets clobbered the Magic's below-average bench, with Keith Bogans hitting two 3-pointers in the 9-0 run to start the fourth. The starters came back less than 90 seconds in, but the momentum was gone.

Bogans finished with 12 points.

Rookie Mo Harkless, who played nearby at St. John's, scored 16 points starting in place of Afflalo. Glen Davis had 15.

Notes: The Nets also won 11 games in January of 1983 and 2002. ... The Nets on Monday recalled Tyshawn Taylor and Tornike Shengelia from Springfield of the NBA D-League, where Shengelia was the player of the week last week. He averaged 31.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in two games while shooting 76 percent from the floor (25 of 33), and tied the Armor record with 39 points on 17-of-21 shooting and grabbed 18 boards in a victory over Maine. However, he was unavailable to the Nets because of concussion symptoms. ... The Magic are 0-13 when failing to score 90 points.

Notebook: Nets 97, Magic 77

Jake Appleman, For NBA.com
Posted Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:09 PM - Updated Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:09 PM

THE FACTS: The Brooklyn Nets built a first-half big lead and then dominated the Orlando Magic in the fourth quarter, winning in a 97-77 rout Monday night at Barclays Center. It was the Nets' eighth straight home win and the fourth straight game against the Magic this season in which they have built at least a 20-point lead. Deron Williams (20 points, nine assists) jump-started the Nets (27-18) in the first half and led all scorers. Nikola Vucevic led the Magic (14-30) with 18 points.

QUOTABLE: "We played two bad games. We know we didn't play the way we're capable of playing. We watched a lot of film this morning, so we wanted to come back and try to not make the mistakes we made in Memphis and Houston."

-- Keith Bogans on the Nets snapping their two-game losing streak

THE STAT: As is often the case in blowout victories, shots were evenly distributed for the victors. No Nets player took over 12 attempts.

TURNING POINT: Up by seven, the Nets started the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run spurred by Bogans and MarShon Brooks. Bogans' second 3-pointer in the run pushed the score to 79-63 and the Nets never looked back.

QUOTABLE II: "Probably the speed of the game, adjusting to all the traveling, playing every day, pretty much, is tough. I mean, we have played more games already than I played my whole career."

-- Magic rookie Maurice Harkless on feeling fatigued on the second night of a back-to-back

INSIDE THE ARENA: Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman played the national anthem. ... Fans chanted "All-Star" and held up letters spelling out the same message in support of Brook Lopez (16 points).

ROOKIE WATCH: Harkless, a St. John's product, started for the injured Arron Afflalo and turned in a solid performance back in New York City, scoring 16 points.

NOTABLE: In what looked like a safety precaution, Glen Davis wrapped Gerald Wallace in a bear hug after Wallace converted a layup early in the third quarter. ... J.J. Redick tallied a career-high 10 assists. ... The Nets are undefeated at home under P.J. Carlesimo.

UP NEXT: For the Magic, Wednesday @ New York, Friday @ Boston, Saturday @ Milwaukee. For the Nets, Wednesday vs. Miami, Friday vs. Chicago, next Tuesday vs. L.A. Lakers.

• Magic: Afflalo, Harrington
• Nets: Shengelia

• Magic: --
• Nets: --

• Lead Changes: 1
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #27 Dick Bavetta, #63 Derek Richardson
• Attendance: 16480
• Duration: 1:58