Nets 90 – Lakers 95

The Nets went into Staples Center last night riding a five game winning streak and were hoping make a statement to all the doubters in the league that they are for real and can beat quality teams on the road.

The Nets came out and quickly fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter but responded with an 11-2 run to make it a game. Brook Lopez (23pts-7rebs) was unstoppable in the first half hitting jumpers and making quick moves to the basket for dunks and great passes.

The Net led 57-56 at halftime and looked to have gotten their bearings and confidence rolling.

The second half was much tougher as the Lakers turned up the defense and the Nets found it harder to score at will but hung in there and had a 5 point lead with 4 minutes to play but in the end Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace (7pts-5rebs-5stl-4blks) and Lopez were not able to sink big shots and left Deron Williams (22pts-10ast) to heave up a game tying three pointer as time expired to end the game.

“I got a pretty clean look, but it was contested,” Williams said. “We didn’t have any timeouts. I really couldn’t have taken another dribble … there really wasn’t anywhere to go, because I caught it close to the sidelines. I had a good look at it. It looked good when I shot it, but just didn’t go in.”

The Nets played well and now know they can beat anyone in this league so that bodes well for the rest of the season.

Next up  Nets @ Golden State Warriors tonight at 10:30