VIDEO – Nets Recap: #Magic 77 – #Nets 97 – SEASON SWEEP
Magic 77 – Nets 97
Not a great beginning as the Nets came out and immediately Reggie Evans was called for a 3-second violation. Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace each hit a three to settle the Nets down. Brook Lopez went inside for a thunderous dunk and the Magic’s early turnovers gave the Nets a 12-8 lead. Williams was hot early and ended the quarter with 13 points on three 3-pointers and was probing looking for his shot. Nets shot a solid 65 percent from the field and finished 6-for-9 from 3-point to take a 30-20 lead after one quarter.
MarShon Brooks came in with the Bench Mob and went to the hole with purpose and created turnovers to start the Brooklyn break. Brooks scored on multiple possessions during a Nets 18-2 run and looked ready to break out. The Magic then hit back to back threes to get the lead down to 12. P.J. Carlesimo turned back to the starters at the six minute mark up 13. The starters regained control and pushed the lead to 18 behind great interior passing that ended in consecutive Lopez dunks. Magic did not attempt a free throw in first half and Williams led the Nets with 18 points while Lopez had 12 points. Nets went 7-for-14 from three point range and shot 57 percent to lead 56-40 at half.
The third opened up back and forth with turnovers and bad decisions by both teams. Williams came out of halftime still hitting the jumper. Both teams started 4-for-9 and turned it over while Mo Harkless (career high 16 points) hit back to back 3-pointers to shrink the Nets lead to 10 points. The Nets lost all of their intensity and the lead diminished to six points with three minutes left in the third. The Nets had 8 turnovers to the Magic’s one turnover in third quarter. The Magic out-scored the lethargic Nets 23-14 in the quarter to get back in the game 70-63.
[quote_box]PJ – We were on the ropes. The third quarter our offense was atrocious. Particularly the way we started, it felt like we turned it over at least three times in a row to start the thing and we had nine or ten for the quarter. Defense is what we focused on.[/quote_box]
The Nets ran off a 9-0 run behind great defense and two 3-pointers by Keith Bogans to start the fourth. Turnovers and bad shots by the Magic allowed the Nets to build the lead back to 21 behind a 3-point barrage from Joe Johnson, Bogans and CJ Watson. The Bench Mob changed the game in the first half and did the same in the fourth. Mirza Teletovic got involved with two 3-pointers and the Nets put the game away with a 23-4 run. The Nets ran away with a 97-77 win for the season sweep.
Nets have now won a season high eight straight games at the Barclays Center.
GAME CHANGER: Deron Williams once again came out strong in the first quarter to lead the Nets and hit three 3-pointers to set the tone and end with 20 points and nine assists.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Nets shot 13-29 from 3-point range and hit a solid seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to put the game away.