Tonight, the Nets are facing off against the Atlanta Hawks. I will be taking notes and posting them at the end of each quarter.
First quarter
- As expected, there is very low fan attendance at this game.
- Deron Williams is already arguing with refs early in game. This is concerning.
- Why is ex-Net Jason Collins starting for the Hawks?
- 6 minutes into the game, the Nets are up by 5. Avery Johnson must be pleased because he has not substituted any of his starters out of the game.
- Shelden Williams is winning his matchup by drawing two fouls on Jason Collins.
- Josh Smith is having a very weird quarter: some poor misses on open jump shots and a missed dunk. He is probably unfocused.
- Jordan Williams, a rookie, is charged with a delay of game for trying to enter the game at the wrong time.
- Deron Williams is having a strong start.
- The Hawks as a team are missing a lot of open jump shots. Josh Smith leads them in missed shots.
Second quarter
- Technical fouls on both Josh Smith and Tracy McGrady after Smith missed a layup. They may be questioning a no-call on a Jordan Williams foul. These are very unnecessary technicals for the Hawks and Jordan Farmar makes them pay by making both free throws.
- Now there is a technical foul on Gerald Green. What is going on?
- Back to back New Jersey turnovers have lead to transition scoring for Atlanta. The Nets are making more mistakes than they did in the 1st quarter and have lost the lead because of it.
- Deron with two questionable shots. First, he scores on a long range, bad-angle floater. Then, he gets charged with a charging violation, trying to dunk over Ivan Johnson.
- Wow, nice block by Gerald Green.
- After a strong first quarter, Kris Humphries is struggling and Gerald Wallace is not getting it done either for the Nets.
- Very surprising: the Nets are outrebounding the Hawks by 10.
- Ivan Johnson is not the greatest player.
- In a fitting end to the half, Josh Smith airballed a jump shot. He has played terribly thus far. Nets lead by 1 at halftime.
First half statistics
- Score: Nets leading 44-43.
- For the Hawks, Joe Johnson has 11 points and Josh Smith is 3-11 with 9 points.
- For the Nets, Deron Williams has 12 points on 13 shots. The Nets, led by Shelden Williams’ 7 rebounds, are leading the Hawks in rebounding by 12! (29-17)
Third quarter
- Humphries with a nice ‘And-1’ dunk off a great pass from Gerald Wallace.
- Very predictable: the Hawks have 16 more points in the paint than the Nets (34-18).
- The Nets are unfortunately leaving Kirk Hinrich open for three point shots.
- Jason Collins bricks a jumper and air-balls a layup.
- Gerald Green is flagrantly fouled on a breakaway.
- Jordan Williams is hungry to make an impact. He is eating Petro’s minutes.
- Wow! Jerry Stackhouse has entered the game. How is he still in the league? How old is he?!
- Amazing defense, especially by Nets standards, have forced back to back shot clock violations. The first time, Morrow defended Hinrich well. The second time, Jerry Stackhouse dribbled too much and Maurice Evans shot an air-ball.
- The Nets have finished the third quarter very well. They lead by seven.
Fourth quarter
- With Deron Williams on the bench, the Nets have blown their lead. They have made dumb mistakes and Atlanta has made them pay.
- Huge dunk by Josh Smith on Kris Humphries.
- Amazing block by Gerald Green. He humped SO high!
- The Nets are not playing well this quarter. Crunch time is approaching.
- Morrow has really struggled this game. His shot has been very off.
- It’s now crunch time and the Nets are playing with about the same intensity as they did early in the first quarter.
- Frustrating loss for the Nets. Their losing streak reaches 5 games.
Final score: 93-84. Jonah will post a recap soon and will have more about the Nets’ 4th quarter collapse.