Brooklyn Nets Blog – Page 68 – NBA Blog

Kris Humphries not in rotation for Nets

Kris Humphries’ official divorce from Kim Kardashian is fast approaching, but his divorce from playing time will come much sooner.

According to a league source, Humphries was informed by coach P.J. Carlesimo Wednesday morning that he will no longer be part of the Nets’ shortened rotation.

Carlesimo has said in recent days that he wants to limit the rotation to nine or 10 players as the Nets head into the stretch run before the postseason.

The 6’9″ forward is averaging 18.4 minutes per game this season, a number that has dwindled substantially since the beginning of the year. He has grabbed 5.9 rebounds per game while scoring 5.5 points per contest.

The decision to bench Humphries is curious given how fervently the Nets have worked to keep him.

— Reported by Seth Walder and Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Deron Williams says his ankles feel better

Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams, who has battled injuries all season, says his ankles don’t hurt and claims he can dunk.

During the week he was sidelined because of inflammation in both ankles, Williams did a three-day juice cleanse, regaining energy and getting bad toxins out of his system. He also received his third set of cortisone shots in both ankles and felt better as a result.

“My ankles don’t hurt,” Williams said Tuesday. “We finally got the injections in the right spot, and they feel a little bit better. I can actually walk up and down stairs and run around with my kids. I can go to the playground with them. I don’t have to hurt every time I take a single step. So, yeah, I feel a lot better. I can dunk.”

As for actually dunking in a game, Williams remains cautious.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m still nervous.”

— Reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York

Brook Lopez, Andray Blatche may get more minutes together for Nets

Brooklyn Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo intends to tighten his team’s rotation, but wouldn’t divulge exactly how he’s going to do so.

One thing Carlesimo does want to try to do is play centers Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche together more.

“It’s something that I’d like to look at more, but there’s more teaching. … It’ll probably fall on Dray at the 4 spot,” Carlesimo said of Blatche playing power forward alongside Lopez. “The 4 spot is not that different. It’s not different than the 5 spot in a lot of the things we do. In some things we do it is different, like out of bounds [situations].

“There’s going to be situations that are going to come up that are put Dray in a little bit of a box because he’s not used to playing 4 [for Brooklyn]. So we have to spend some time making sure he knows some or most of those [situations]. … It’s something we definitely want to look into.”

— Reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York

Nets re-assign Tornike Shengelia to D-League

The Brooklyn Nets have re-assigned forward Tornike Shengelia to the Springfield Armor of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by General Manager Billy King.

This will be the third time this season Shengelia has been assigned to the Armor. In his three appearances, the 6’8’’ Georgia native is averaging 28.3 points, 13.7 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 1.7 blocks on 64.6% shooting. Shengelia recorded a triple-double in his NBA D-League debut 12/21 vs. Erie, and followed that showing with a 39-point outburst 1/24 vs. Maine, tied for the second-most points scored in the NBA D-League this season on 17 field goals (league-best).

Shengelia, acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers after being drafted 54th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, has appeared in 13 games for the Nets this season, averaging 1.4 points, 1.0 assists and 0.7 rebounds per game.

Shengelia will be in uniform when the Armor take on the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on Friday March 1st at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.

D-Will, Lopez lead Nets past Hornets, 101-97

Deron Williams snapped out of a lackluster second half in time to save the Brooklyn Nets from a painful collapse.

One game after coming up empty in the final minutes of a close loss to Memphis, Williams scored for 11 of his 31 points in the final 1:24 in New Orleans, and the Nets snapped a two-game skid by holding off the Hornets, 101-97 on Tuesday night…

Williams was coming off a game against the Grizzlies in which he went scoreless during the last six minutes, with one shot blocked and a turnover with 10.9 seconds left with his team trailing 74-72.

After scoring 20 points in the first half in New Orleans, Williams had only one basket during the next 22:36 as the Hornets nearly erased a deficit that had been as large as 22. Then Williams drained a timely 3, added a fadeaway jumper, and followed that with six free throws in the final 18.7 seconds to seal it…

Brook Lopez added 20 points and four blocks while playing against his twin brother, Robin, and Keith Bogans added 12 points for Brooklyn, hitting all four of his shots, including three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Williams made four of his eight 3-point attempts, and the Nets shot 60 percent (12 of 20) from long range as a team.

Greivis Vasquez scored 20 and Robin Lopez 14 for New Orleans, which has lost four of five.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

Rockets beat Nets for 13th straight time, 106-96

East Rutherford, Newark or Brooklyn. The Houston Rockets win no matter where the nomadic Nets call home.

James Harden and Carlos Delfino each scored 22 points, and the Rockets tied their longest winning streak against any opponent by beating Brooklyn for the 13th straight time, 106-96 on Friday night.

Houston blew most of a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter before Delfino hit a big 3-pointer with 1:54 left. He later made another jumper before Harden followed with a 3-pointer to put it away and remain unbeaten on the road against the Nets for 10 years…

Delfino made six 3-pointers. Harden, coming off a career-high, 46-point game Wednesday against Oklahoma City, made four 3s and finished 7 of 14 from the field.

Brook Lopez scored 27 points for the Nets, who played without starting guard Joe Johnson for the first time this season because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Deron Williams added 15 points and 13 assists, but shot 5 of 17 as Brooklyn had its four-game winning streak snapped…

The Rockets used only nine players. Newcomers Thomas Robinson, the No. 5 pick in last year’s draft, Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt weren’t available because Patrick Patterson, Toney Douglas and Cole Aldrich, the players traded to Sacramento on Wednesday, hadn’t gotten their physicals done in time. The Rockets hope they will be available Saturday…

Omer Asik had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets. Lin finished with nine points and six assists, the former Knicks star getting a nice ovation before the game.

C.J. Watson scored 17 points in place of Johnson.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

P.J. Carlesimo says Deron Williams is playing hurt all season

Brooklyn Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo admitted that Deron Williams is going to be playing at less than full strength for the rest of the season.

“He’s not gonna be 100 percent,” Carlesimo said during a Thursday interview on ESPN New York 98.7 FM “The Mike Lupica Show.” “The reality is he’s not gonna be 100 percent this year, and I think that’s the thing that a lot of people are having difficult grasping.

“He’s playing dinged up. His ankles are not good at all. And that wrist has been a problem for him all year.”

Williams has been hampered by a slew of injuries in 2012-13 but has missed just three games. Prior to the season, he had a cortisone shot because of bone spurs in his left ankle and admitted that he would need offseason surgery to clean it out.

— Reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York

Nets beat Bucks despite big game from Brandon Jennings

Five points separated the Nets and the Bucks in their home-and-home set, and Brooklyn came away with two straight last-second victories.

Deron Williams scored 23 points and the Nets escaped with a 97-94 victory on Wednesday night after Milwaukee’s Monta Ellis missed a chance to tie the game with three foul shots in the final seconds.

”We did a good job of closing the game until the very end,” Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said. ”We made it interesting. We got ourselves an 11-point lead and then did a poor job closing that. It’s hard to keep coming back, coming back, coming back, but we did it.”

Williams made two free throws and a 3-pointer that gave the Nets their biggest lead at 94-83 with 1:50 left to play. But Milwaukee ran off an 11-2 run down the stretch and pulled to 96-94 with 6.9 seconds left on two layup by Brandon Jennings.

Jennings scored 31 points and had 11 assists, Ersan Ilyasova had 12 rebounds and Larry Sanders had 12 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots for Milwaukee…

Sanders returned to the Bucks’ starting lineup Tuesday after missing four games with a lower back contusion…

C.J. Watson had 17 off the bench for Brooklyn. Andray Blatche scored 12 points and had 12 rebounds for the Nets

Williams, who had 19 points and nine assists Tuesday after sitting out the previous two games with inflammation in his ankles, played 33 minutes. He had eight assists and one steal…

Jennings had 18 points before the break, making all seven of his shots, and seven assists. Ersan Ilyasova had 10 points and seven of Milwaukee’s 23 rebounds.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Deron Williams says he is limited by ankle injuries

Deron Williams admits his ankle injuries have hindered him and hurt him to the point he can’t even dunk. And after undergoing Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment and sitting out last week, the Nets’ star guard acknowledges he needs more time to fully recover — time he won’t take, insisting he’ll play tonight against the Bucks at Barclays Center.

“They said a week was sufficient, so I trust the doctors,” said Williams, who hasn’t played since Feb. 10 against the Spurs and had PRP injections the next day to reduce ankle joint lining inflammation. “I definitely need more rest than a week for it to get back to normal, but I don’t have time right now.

“Yeah, it’s definitely affected me a lot. I can’t jump. I haven’t dunked. I can’t dunk. Even if I tried off one leg, I can’t dunk. So it’s definitely affected me. You think about it, when I’m going into the lane and make a move, a hard jump-stop hurts. Any hard impact, or hard move, it hurts … It’s definitely been a concern, that’s a big reason I did the PRP.’’

— Reported by Brian Lewis of the New York Post

2015 NBA All-Star Game location may be New York City

The All-Star Game appears to be headed back to the Big Apple.

The Knicks and the Nets have both applied to host the All-Star Game, and deputy commissioner Adam Silver said last night that it’s likely that one or the other will be hosting the event in 2015, the next year that is available.

When Silver was asked if that was the case, he responded with a simple, “Yes.”

New Orleans is hosting the game next year.

Silver, who is set to take over for commissioner David Stern next February, said that the league would still have to make sure it could secure the proper logistics, including hotel space and availability at the Javits Center for its Jam Session.

— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post