With Brook Lopez on Bench, Nets Edge Magic
The Nets managed to close out the Orlando Magic on Sunday with a tenacious defensive performance in the fourth quarter, but they left their struggling All-Star center, Brook Lopez, on the bench down the stretch, a move sure to raise questions about Lopez's physical health and his evolving role after he missed nearly all of last season.
Sticking with an effective Kevin Garnett, who had 8 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, the Nets held Orlando to 19 points on 20.5 percent shooting in the fourth quarter for a 104-96 win at Barclays Center.
The Nets had lost to Minnesota on Wednesday, a surprising letdown on their home floor, but responded with a drubbing of the Knicks two nights later, rekindling optimism that their new coach, Lionel Hollins, was steering them in the right direction.
They were, by turns, electric offensively, lackadaisical defensively and rhythmically out of sorts on Sunday, showing difficulty fending off a young Magic team with a roster that is still being rebuilt. Nikola Vucevic, a surprisingly nimble 7-foot center off to an All-Star-caliber start, had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and neither team managed to build a lead bigger than 8.
So with 5 minutes 55 seconds left, the game was tied.
Lopez had struggled, scoring 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting, with five rebounds, in 26 minutes. So Hollins elected to keep in Garnett to pester Vucevic in the closing minutes. It seemed to pay off. Garnett corralled an offensive rebound, and the extra opportunity allowed Alan Anderson to glide in for a layup that put the Nets ahead, 96-89, with 3:13 remaining.
The Magic wound up losing a road game for the 52nd time in 58 tries.
Brooklyn shot only 40.9 percent from the field in the first quarter, allowing the Magic to take a 13-10 lead. But Joe Johnson finished the quarter with an offensive flourish, scoring the Nets' last 10 points, and even though his runner rimmed out at the buzzer, the Nets entered the second quarter with a 24-23 lead.
The Magic then hit 10 of 13 shots, including five 3-pointers, to build a 47-40 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the first half. But again, the Nets managed to close the quarter on a run, a 10-3 stretch that left them trailing by just 2 heading into the break.
Deron Williams, coming off a 29-point outburst against the Knicks on Friday, was more of a facilitator of the offense at the outset. He had told reporters after Saturday's practice that he was feeling better than he did at any point last season, and it was not difficult to see a pronounced difference in his movement and fluidity.
Williams had surgery on both ankles in May, finally removing out a bone chip from his right ankle and bone spurs from his left, which had hounded him since the 2012 Olympics.
Synovitis, an inflammation in the joints, was said to be the cause of his pain throughout the 2012-13 season, and cortisone shots and a platelet-rich plasma injection helped him rebound in the second half. But Williams sprained his right ankle during a preseason workout last year, curdling his hope for a bounce-back year.
He wound up injuring his left ankle three times during the season, missing games and requiring another round of healing injections that never seemed to work. He limped through the postseason, unsure whether his next step might result in another painful twist or tear.
With the spring in his step back, Williams averaged 19.8 points and seven assists in his first five games this season - numbers that, if they held throughout the rest of the season, would represent his best campaign since he arrived with the Nets in 2011. He finished with 18 points and 7 assists Sunday.
Early in the third quarter, the Nets retook the lead for the first time since there were 10 minutes left in the first half. Bojan Bogdanovich scored 9 points in a short stretch as the Magic seemed to lose track of him, and he finished with a season-high 22.
Only Vucevic, who scored 15 points in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, kept the Magic within striking distance, working relentlessly on the offensive glass and displaying an effective jump shot from outside the paint. A baby hook with 13 seconds remaining cut the Magic's deficit to 81-77 heading into the final period.
The absence of the 7-foot Lopez down the stretch of the tight game was conspicuous. He is still working his way back from a foot operation, as well as a midfoot sprain in the preseason that kept him out of action for two weeks. He has occasionally looked like his old self, scoring 20 points with nine rebounds against the Knicks on Friday. But the rehabilitation process - physically, and with regard to his role in the Nets' offense - appears to be continuing.
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