Brooklyn Nets Blog – Page 85 – NBA Blog

Spencer Hawes steps up, 76ers beat Nets

Center Spencer Hawes came off the bench for the first time and a scored a season-high 19 points to lead the slumping Philadelphia 76ers to a 107-88 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday night.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak and was only the fifth in 15 games for Philadelphia (30-27), giving it a half-game lead over the Knicks (29-27) for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee (28-29) is 1 1/2 games behind the Knicks.

The loss eliminated the Nets (21-38) from playoff contention for the fifth straight season.

Philadelphia got a big game from its bench, with Lou Williams adding 20 points and Thaddeus Young 19.

Kris Humphries had 20 points and 10 rebounds for New Jersey. Deron Williams added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists on a night that he was hounded by Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.

The Nets were without forward Gerald Wallace, who strained his left hamstring, in the win over Cleveland on Sunday night.

— Reported by Tom Canavan of the Associated Press

Nets sign guard Armon Johnson to 10-day contract

The New Jersey Nets have signed free agent guard Armon Johnson to a 10-day contract, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today.

Johnson (6-3, 195), started the 2011-12 season with Portland appearing in one contest before being assigned to the Idaho Stampede of the D-League. In six games with the Stampede, he averaged 11.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 27 minutes. He was recalled on January 15 before being waived by Portland on February 27.

The University of Nevada product was selected in the second round of the 2010 NBA Draft (34th overall) by Portland. Johnson appeared in 38 games as a rookie in 2010-11, averaging 2.9 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.2 assists in seven minutes per game. In 39 career games, he holds averages of 2.9 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.2 assists in seven minutes.

Gerald Green scores 32, Nets beat Cavs in OT

Gerald Green scored a season-high 32 points, including a clutch 3-pointer with 36.7 seconds left in regulation and a high-flying dunk in overtime, leading the New Jersey Nets to a 122-117 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night…

Anthony Morrow scored 24 points, Deron Williams had 18 points and 10 assists and Kris Humphries added 16 points and 11 rebounds as New Jersey finished with its highest scoring total of the season—topping the 115 in a loss to Denver on Jan. 11.

Antawn Jamison scored a season high-tying 34 points, Lester Hudson had 26 and Alonzo Gee added 22 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland, which lost for the 10th time in 11 games and the 13th in their last 15. Tristan Thompson had 15 points and 15 rebounds.

The teams traded the lead seven times in the final 5 minutes of regulation before Green gave the Nets a 109-106 lead with his 3-pointer. However, Hudson sent the game to overtime with a fall-away 3 with just 0.3 seconds left.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Nets GM Billy King says Nets are headed in right direction

The Nets general manager has been all in from the beginning, trying all season long to leverage Dwight Howard’s obvious desire to play for the Nets into convincing the Orlando Magic to trade the six-time All Star to New Jersey. And when that fell apart, well, then, King went all in on trying to convince Deron Williams that even if the team doesn’t still end up trading for Dwight Howard, it will still be worth the All-Star point guard’s while to re-sign with the Nets and move to Brooklyn with the team next season.

Getting Gerald Wallace — and potentially giving up this year’s first round pick in order to make that happen — was part of that, as King told reporters Friday, after he broke the news that Brook Lopez is done for the season.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction, and if you look at our team this year, being as banged up (as it was), to beat Chicago in Chicago, Philly in Philly, New York in New York… we won some games in tough places,” King said. “And you see things getting in the right direction. Winning is important. And that’s what I told Deron: ‘We’re not rebuilding this year. We’re going to build this team to win next year.’”

— Reported by Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger

Syracuse center Fab Melo will enter 2012 NBA Draft

Syracuse sophomore Fab Melo has announced his intention to sign with an agent and put his name into the 2012 NBA Draft.

Melo issued the following statement:

“After meeting with my mother, my family and Coach Boeheim, I have decided to enter my name in to the 2012 NBA Draft. Being able to play professional basketball has been my dream since I first starting playing this game and now I have the opportunity to accomplish that dream. Coach Boeheim, Coach Hopkins and the rest of the Syracuse staff have helped me develop as a player and as a man and I will always be appreciative for what they’ve done for me. I wish Syracuse University, the basketball program and the Syracuse fans nothing but the best.”

Gerald Wallace goes wild, Nets beat Warriors

New Jersey Nets forward Gerald Wallace went crazy Friday night, leading the New Jersey Nets to a 102-11 road win over the Golden State Warriors. Wallace shot 7-of-16 for 24 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and six steals in the win.

Here’s the Associated Press:

Wallace scored 10 points over the final 6 minutes and made a pair of key defensive stops as New Jersey rallied from 19 points down in the second half to beat the Golden State Warriors 102-100 on Friday night.

“The future looks good, if we had everybody healthy,” Wallace said after the Nets opened a four-game West Coast trip with their first win at Oracle Arena in more than six years. “We have an elite point guard, we have one of the up-and-coming centers … so our future looks great.”

Wallace might not have had the same feelings two weeks ago after arriving in a trade from Portland. New Jersey lost its first five games with Wallace to drop 19 games below .500.

The Nets have turned things around lately and have won three of their last four…

Kris Humphries added 20 points and nine rebounds while Deron Williams had nine points and a season-high 20 assists to help New Jersey to its third win in four games.

David Lee had 27 points and six rebounds for Golden State, which led 76-57 midway through the third quarter but couldn’t get much going offensively the rest of the way.

Nets sign Dennis Horner to 10-day contract

The New Jersey Nets have signed free agent forward Dennis Horner from the D-League’s Springfield Armor to a 10-day contract, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today.

Horner is the fourth player to sign a 10-day contract with the Nets this season. The 6-9 rookie from N.C. State signed with the Nets prior to training camp on December 9, 2011. He appeared in five games with New Jersey, scoring a total of four points in 16 minutes of action.

In 25 games, 20 starts, with the Armor this season, Horner is averaging 17.0 points and 8.5 rebounds, while shooting .471 from the field and .373 from deep. He had his best performance of the season on 2/27 vs. Maine when he scored 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting, including 3-of-4 from deep, and pulled down 15 rebounds.

Injured Shelden Williams does not make West Coast trip with Nets

Nets center Shelden Williams, who suffered an injury to his right eye in Wednesday’s Nets victory over the Indiana Pacers at Prudential Center, did not make the trip with the team to the West Coast today and on its official injury report, the team said it will update his condition April 5, after the trip.

Williams was injured in the second quarter of the game, when he was apparently poked in the eye by Indiana’s Tyler Hansbrough. He left the game immediately and was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center for further evaluation. The team did not say whether he spent the night in the hospital, nor did it give any details about the type or severity of injury Williams suffered.

Williams is the only Net to have played in each of the team’s first 52 games. He has started 30 of those, and has averaged 4.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game.

— Reported by Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger

Nets guard Jordan Farmar questionable to play again this season

[Nets guard Jordan] Farmar, who has dealt with groin injuries all season long, was ruled out for at least the next 10 days before last night’s 105-84 loss to the Jazz at Prudential Center.

“Injuries are part of the game,” Farmar said after the game. “I’ve just got to understand that it happens, and you’ve got to get healthy. Health is first and foremost. I’ve got a long career ahead of me — I’m only 25 — and I just want to get it right.

“It was such a nothing-type, minor injury when it first happened that I took it for granted,’’ he said. “I felt I’d be OK in a day, but then it got worse. I sat out a week, and I thought it was OK, because it’s OK when I’m walking around and stuff, but once I get out there and do one thing, it jumps back to square one.”

After meeting with specialists, Farmar said he’s expecting to sit out for at least the next two-to-three weeks. With only a month remaining in the season, that leaves his chances of playing again for the Nets this season in serious jeopardy.

— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

Mavericks waive forward Sean Williams

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have requested waivers on forward Sean Williams.

Williams (6-10, 235) played eight games with the Mavericks after signing as a free agent on Dec. 21. In those appearances, he averaged 3.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 8.1 minutes while shooting .750 (12-16 FGs) from the field and .833 (5-6 FTs) from the free throw line.

Williams also saw considerable time assigned to the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League. He played 24 games with 23 starts for Texas and averaged 14.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.54 blocks and 1.0 assist in 28.5 minutes while shooting .496 (132-266 FGs) from the field and .766 (85-111 FTs) from the free throw line.

The Mavericks roster now stands at 14 players.