Deron Williams leads Nets over Clippers, but Brook Lopez exits with sprained ...
Robert Sabo/New York Daily NewsIn his second game back, Deron Williams, once again, is on fire.
NETS 102, CLIPPERS 93
When Deron Williams went down, crashing to the floor fighting through a screen in pursuit of Chris Paul in the first quarter of Thursday's game, it seemed the sure definition of a terrible sequence. Not only had Williams seemingly tweaked his historically bad left ankle stepping on the foot of Brook Lopez, he did so against Paul, his rival at point guard and perhaps the player he's so often judged against.
Williams got up, tightened the laces on his white sneaker, and ran back down court, seemingly fine.
He was.
After missing his previous nine games with an ankle injury, Williams returned to form on Tuesday, scorching the Celtics for 25 points and seven assists. He picked up where he left off on Thursday, showing the same bounce and aggressiveness in leading the Nets to a 102-93 win against the Clippers at the Barclays Center.
Instead of the game revolving around Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and their reunion with former Celtic coach Doc Rivers, it turned on Williams, who helped the Nets win a season-high third straight game, scoring 15 points in just 27 minutes and allowing the Nets to beat one of the top teams in the league. Andray Blatche led the Nets with 21 points and nine rebounds while Paul led the Clippers with 20 points.
In doing so, Williams proved his mettle against Paul, perhaps the top point guard in the league, making the case that maybe he should be part of that conversation.
The only drawback came in the form of Brook Lopez falling down in the third quarter and coming up gimpy on his left ankle. He stayed in the game but later left, with what the team announced as a sprained left ankle, the same limb that caused Lopez to miss seven games earlier in the season.
So even when the Nets produce a memorable effort, they're sabotaged by the injury bug, which has claimed another player.
At least Williams emerged healthy.
After being out-played by Paul early on, Williams scored 10 straight points for the Nets in the second quarter on an assortment of nifty moves. He nicely crossed over Paul and made him go sliding to his left while he pulled up for a three, giving the Nets a 45-40 lead with three minutes left in the half.
Williams hit another three in the corner off a pass from Joe Johnson moments later to make it 48-42. For an encore, Williams crossed Paul over again to end the half, dropping in the ball in on a strong drive in the final seconds to give the Nets a 56-44 lead at the half.
It was a startling performance, and not just from Williams, who played in front of a nationally televised audience, including outgoing NBA commissioner David Stern, who sat courtside.
As a team, the Nets out-scored the Clippers 36-19 in the second quarter, shooting 52% from the field while the Clippers suddenly went cold, making just 35% of their shots. The Nets were lethal from long-range in the second, making 4-of-6 threes while the Clippers went cold from that distance, missing all seven of their attempts. Williams had 12 points in the second quarter alone.
It was a far cry from what happened early on when the Clippers appeared so much quicker than the Nets, racing out to an 11-2 lead on a series of dunks and three-pointers while the Nets couldn't find the rim. Paul seemed energized at the prospect of matching wits with Williams.
Williams and Paul have been linked since they were both lottery picks in the 2005 NBA draft, with Williams selected third by the Utah Jazz (from Portland) and Paul fourth by the New Orleans Hornets.
The Clippers led 15-6 after Paul drilled a jumper with 6:02 left in the quarter. The Nets continued to fall behind after Lopez missed badly on an awkward looking jumper and Jared Dudley drained a three on the other end to push the lead to 23-10 with 3:28 left in the first, causing the Nets to call timeout. It seemed like just another disastrous effort by the Nets, who have failed to live up to the hype that trailed them into the season. But the Nets rallied behind Lopez, who scored eight of his team's final 10 points of the quarter to cut the Clippers lead to 25-20 after the first.
The Nets further cut into the lead with Paul heading to the bench in the second quarter. Blatche scored six straight for the Nets to make it a three-point game, 29-26 with 9:14 left in the second. Pierce, coming off the bench for the second straight game because of a hand injury, then tied the score at 31-31 with a three (his first field goal since Nov. 29) and Blatche gave the Nets its first lead of the game with a lay-in to make it 33-31 with 7:46 left in the second before Williams took over.
Paul is having another banner season, leading the league in assists with 11.9 per game while placing second in steals with 2.36 and scoring 18.9 points a contest, seventh among point guards. He has led the Clippers to back-to-back playoff appearances in his two years with the team and is a big reason the team is in first place in the Pacific division this season while Williams has struggled with injuries and production.
After hurting his right ankle during an off-season workout in Utah, Williams suffered a pair of left ankle sprains this season, forcing him to miss nine straight games before Tuesday's breakout performance against the Celtics. He proved that wasn't a fluke with his first-half performance, scoring a team-high 13 points, 12 in the second quarter, hitting a pair of threes in the span, while Paul had 14 for the Clippers.
Williams' jumper midway through the third quarter pushed the Nets lead to 65-51. A three by Johnson made it 68-53 with 7:41 left in the third.
Lopez rolled his left ankle and fell late in the third quarter, leaving the game with just under four minutes left. But he checked back in moments later, apparently fine. He wasn't.
The unpredictable Blatche caught fire, hitting three straight jumpers against DeAndre Jordan to give the Nets an 83-62 heading into the fourth quarter. With the crowd swooning, Blatche missed a last-second three as the third ended.
A day after he visited Boston with a win on Wednesday, Rivers continued his reunion tour with the trip to Brooklyn, playing against his former Celtic cornerstones in Pierce and Garnett for the first time since they were dealt to Brooklyn this summer. Rivers spent nine seasons in Boston, turning around the franchise and winning an NBA title in 2008 with Garnett and Pierce (and Ray Allen) as his centerpiece. Rivers was given a standing ovation at TD Garden on Wednesday before the game and during a video tribute after the first quarter, even though his departure from the Celtics was anything but smooth.
Garnett ran over to the Clippers' bench and embraced Rivers just moments before tip-off; Rivers appeared to choke up a little.
It was probably the best feeling of the night for Rivers.
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