Brooklyn Nets Blog – Page 74 – NBA Blog

Wade scores 34, Heat beat Nets

Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 34 points, LeBron James added 21 points and the Miami Heat rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-89 on Saturday night.

Ray Allen scored 13 and Norris Cole finished with 12 for the Heat, who won their sixth straight and remained atop the Eastern Conference. Miami held the Nets to 30 points in the second half.

Andray Blatche scored 20 points for Brooklyn, which had won five in a row. Gerald Wallace had 13 points, Joe Johnson added 12 and Deron Williams finished with 10 points and 12 assists.

The Nets were 10 for 31 from the field in the second half and lost to Miami for the 12th straight time.

Wade added seven assists and shot 14 for 20 for Miami. He reached the 30-point mark for the first time this season when he took an alley-oop pass from Allen and slammed the ball for a 90-81 edge with 5:14 left…

Brooklyn had just one field goal in the first 9:06 of the final quarter, missing 10 of 11 shots in that stretch as Miami – despite shooting 5 for 16 over the same stretch – pulled away.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Rondo ejected in Celtics loss to Nets

Doc Rivers wants the Boston Celtics to be tough – not violent.

The message came too late for Rajon Rondo.

The Celtics point guard was ejected from Wednesday night’s game against the Nets when he retaliated for a hard foul against Kevin Garnett by shoving Brooklyn forward Kris Humphries into the courtside seats. Rondo, Humphries and Nets forward Gerald Wallace were ejected, and Brooklyn held on to win 95-83…

Joe Johnson scored 18 points and Andray Blatche had 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Nets opened up a 21-point, first-half lead and took advantage of the loss of the Celtics’ All-Star to win for the ninth time in 11 games.

Garnett had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Paul Pierce added 14 points for Boston. Rondo had three assists before he was kicked out, ending his streak at 37 games with double-digits – tied for second-longest in NBA history.

The Nets led by eight after one quarter and scored 19 of the first 25 points in the second to make it 47-26. Boston cut the deficit to 14 points and trailed by 16 when Garnett took an off-balance jumper from the right baseline and Humphries leveraged him to the floor with his left arm.

Rondo trailed the play with a two-handed shove that sent Humphries into the courtside seats.

— Reported by Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press

Reggie Evans rebounding like crazy for Nets

Reggie Evans keeps it simple, with a slogan that Nike once might’ve kicked around: Just get it.

Evans doesn’t view his job as a science, or a reward for practice and technique. After grabbing 14 boards Monday against the Knicks, he couldn’t really explain why he’s rebounding at a better rate than anybody in the NBA.

Evans just plays by a creed, which signals in his head as the ball bounces off the rim.

“Go get it,” he said. “No excuses. Just get it.”

Evans, 32, is averaging a league-high 22.1 rebounds per 48 minutes — a number that keeps rising as the Nets (9-4) keep winning. In the last three games — all home victories — Avery Johnson has trusted Evans in fourth-quarter crunch time over starter Kris Humphries.

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Nets take first Brooklyn matchup with Knicks in overtime

The Nets won the crowd – and the game.

Things sure looked and sounded different for them in their first matchup against the New York Knicks in Brooklyn.

The Nets pulled out a 96-89 overtime victory on Monday night, tying the Knicks for first place on a breakthrough night for their franchise.

With their fans outnumbering and at times outchanting the Knicks’ counterparts for a change, the Nets improved to 7-1 in their new home, sending this new-look rivalry off to a stirring start before a sellout crowd of 17,732…

Jerry Stackhouse, wearing the No. 42 Jackie Robinson made famous in Brooklyn, hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:31 left in overtime as the Nets controlled the extra period of a playoff-like game that neither team led by more than seven.

Brook Lopez had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Deron Williams added 16 points and 14 assists as the Nets tied the Knicks atop the Atlantic Division at 9-4.

Carmelo Anthony had 35 points and 13 rebounds, but was only 10 of 16 at the free throw line. Tyson Chandler finished with 28 points and 10 boards, but no other Knicks player was in double figures.

Raymond Felton was just 3 of 19 from the field, but the Knicks had to stick with him with fellow point guard and former Nets star Jason Kidd out with back spasms.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Knicks play Nets in Brooklyn tonight

From Madison Square Garden to the Garden State, the Knicks cast a shadow the Nets could never escape.

The Knicks were considered first rate and the Nets second class, even in years when the better team was in New Jersey. The Nets would watch fans in orange and blue take over their home games, believing all along things would be different when they finally got their shot at the Knicks in Brooklyn.

Well, here it comes.

The city rivals play the makeup of their postponed season opener on Monday, a matchup the Knicks insist is just another game but one that’s probably much bigger to the Nets.

”I think obviously being on center stage tomorrow night, all eyes on Brooklyn, truly makes this a very special night for us because it’s something that we worked for, for so long,” Nets CEO Brett Yormark said Sunday. ”Even though it’s not opening night, it’s a dramatic night. I mean, the Knicks are playing well, the Nets are playing well, Brooklyn’s certainly embraced this franchise, and I think tomorrow night is hopefully the start of some really special nights between the Nets and the Knicks.

”Yeah, I’d love to win the game, but it’s more than that. It’s about making a statement that this franchise has arrived and we are certainly part of the conversation when people are talking about pro basketball in New York.”

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Reggie Evans fined $5,000 for flopping

Reggie Evans has made history.

Evans, who was one of the main subjects of the NBA’s preseason instructional video about the new flopping rules, has become the first player to be fined for flopping under the new anti-flopping policy.

The Nets’ backup power forward was fined $5,000 after he committed his second flop of the season in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s 95-90 loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles, when he clearly exaggerated contact from Lakers forward Metta World Peace.

“It’s a tough spot for us, because Reggie sets physical screens, he rebounds, and I don’t necessarily consider him a flopper,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said before last night’s game here against the Warriors. “I don’t see him flopping in practice, he just plays hard and goes all out. It’s just a tough one. Hopefully he won’t be a marked man, even if there is a physical confrontation out there on the floor, that they won’t consider it flopping.”

— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

Gerald Wallace wanted Kobe to shoot with his eyes closed

Gerald Wallace is rapidly becoming a cult hero amongst Nets fans, and here’s a cool example of why.

With the game on the line Tuesday night and Kobe Bryant at the charity stripe, Wallace began jawing with the Laker great.

What was Wallace talking about?

“I was trying to get him to close his eyes to shoot.”

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Metta World Peace calls the Nets floppers

The Lakers forward went on a Twitter rant on Tuesday night about the flopping Nets, referencing two flops by Gerald Wallace and one by Reggie Evans.

Here’s World Peace’s timeline:

“what was the best flop tonight? out of the three?i am so happy the nba charges $5000 per flop……”

“the two gerad wallace flops were crazy..lol i am on the court like”what in the world”!!! it is crazy because i am still strong but quicker.”

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Blog)

Dwight Howard doesn’t care if D-Will is upset

Dwight Howard lost a lot of friends and supporters during his curious ride out of Orlando. But if one of those severed relationships was with Deron Williams, Howard – the man who wanted to please everybody — doesn’t care.

“It’s my life so if he’s upset because I made a decision for me, so be it,” Howard said. “If he doesn’t want to be friends because I’m on another team, then so be it. There’s no need to smooth things over.”

The two All-Stars plotted to play together in Brooklyn, but Howard essentially killed that possibility by waiving his right to become a free agent last March. Howard has said the decision was based on his desire to keep everybody happy, even though it forfeited his opportunity to sign with the Nets in the summer.

Instead, Howard was dealt in August from the Magic to the Lakers, who host the Nets on Tuesday. The center declined to discuss his desire to play in Brooklyn and whether it’s still alive.

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Blog)

Dwight Howard looking forward to playing against Nets

Dwight Howard had just come off a 28-point, 13-rebound, three-block detonation against the Rockets Sunday. And he announced that A) he and Kobe Bryant — who had a triple double — still are not on the same page and B) he still is only at 75 to 80 percent health following back surgery.

Good luck, Nets.

“They have a great point guard and a pretty good team, so we just have to play hard,” Howard, leading with Deron Williams, said of the Nets who visit Staples Center here Tuesday night.

And then Howard turned his attention to Brook Lopez.

“He’s tough. He knows how to score,” Howard, who has averaged 17.1 points and 12.9 rebounds in 28 career games against the Nets, said of Lopez. “They look for him a lot in the offense, they have a lot of great plays.”

— Reported by Fred Kerber of the New York Post