Nets-Sixers Recap: Nets Can’t Keep Momentum Without Wallace

The Nets had their season high 3-game home winning streak snapped Tuesday night as they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 107-88. The game was close early on, but by the beginning of the fourth quarter the game was over. Philadelphia was led by their bench, which had their three leading scorers in Spencer Hawes, Thadeus Young, and Lou Williams. I predicted in my game preview that this game would be decided by the bench play, and I was correct. The two key players on the Nets bench, Anthony Morrow and Gerald Green, both had poor performances. The Nets were led by Kris Humphries, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

In my previous game recaps, I talked about the “plot” of the game. However, from now on, if you want to look at the plot of the game and see specific notes from the game, check out our live game notes page. Here you will find my comments on these specific moments and plays in the game. This is a great way to catch up on the game if you missed any or all of it.

It is not surprising the Nets lost this game because they were without their leader in hustle plays, Gerald Wallace. This team seemed a lot like the team the Nets were before they acquired Wallace: lazy, slow, and unmotivated, and this is one of the reasons they lost by almost 20 points. This game showed how valuable Wallace is to this team and how bad they are without him. Even though Deron Williams has accounted for many of the Nets’ wins this season, one can argue that Gerald Wallace is the MVP of the team.

I am not too upset the Nets lost this game because they have been playing better recently, especially at home, so one loss is not too bad. Hopefully Wallace will return to the lineup on Friday when the Nets go to Philadelphia to face the Sixers again.

Player stats, grades, and notes:

Deron Williams: 14 points, 5-12 FG, 6 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk, 0 stl, 5 to, 36 min. Grade: C+

Not a very good game for Deron. He was not very active defensively (0 stl) and turned the ball over too much. He had a few nice passes, but not enough of them. He missed a few layups and was not looking for his shot tonight. He should have been looking for his shot, especially with Gerald Wallace out of the lineup.

Marshon Brooks: 10 points, 4-11 FG, 5 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk, 1 to, 36 min. Grade: B-

This game was better than some of his previous games this year, but still not very good. He took a lot of questionable shots tonight and most of them did not go in. He was better defensively than most of the other Nets, which I cannot usually say. He was guarding Jodie Meeks, who had a terrible game. However, when Lou Williams came in, he absolutely torched the Nets, as he always does, with 20 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Marshon has to take some of the blame for that.

Kris Humphries: 20 points, 7-18 FG, 6-7 FT, 10 reb, 4 ast, 0 blk, 1 to, 31 min. Grade: B+

20-10 games are not easy to come by in the NBA, and Kris got exactly those numbers tonight. Unfortunately for the Nets, Humphries was the main offensive weapon tonight, and it is never good when this happens. They need other players to step up because Humphries is here for defense and rebounding, not taking mid-range shots like he did tonight. His defense on Elton Brand was good enough, but the Nets were unable to stop Spencer Hawes, who finished with 19 points and 8 rebounds. The Nets really lost this game because of their defense.

Gerald Green: 8 points, 4-11 FG, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 to, 4 fouls, 22 min. Grade: C

After one of Green’s best games, he had one of his worst. Well, he wasn’t that bad, but we have been spoiled by his play of late. He was outplayed by Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young and never really got into a rhythm. Hopefully this is a one-game thing and he will be back to the Green Machine we know and love on Friday night.

Anthony Morrow: 4 points, 1-8 FG, 0-1 3 pt FG, 0 ast, 0 reb, 1 stl, 0 to, 20 min. Grade: F

This was an unacceptable game from Anthony Morrow. Why? Because he gets paid to make 3’s and he only took one of them tonight. His two point shooting was not effective at all, but he still took 8 shots for some reason. He was trying to post guys up instead of looking to get open and it wasn’t working. His defense was also poor and he wasn’t hustling enough. Morrow has had some good games recently, but this was one of his poorest.

Johan Petro: 12 points, 5-10 FG, 2 reb, 14 min. Grade: ???

I really have on idea what to say here. Petro did not play until the third quarter when the game was likely already over, and then he played all throughout fourth quarter garbage time when the Nets were down by 20. Somehow, in only 14 minutes, Petro took 10 shots. Typically, I would go crazy yelling at him for doing this, but he was able to shoot 50% from the field. He did miss some wide open jumpers by a mile, but he had one “foreign flush” as Ian Eagle would say and did make a few jumpers. I don’t give him a lot of credit because all of this came in garbage time.

After tonight, the Nets will have two nights off before heading down the I-95 to have a rematch (revenge game?) with Philadelphia. Tomorrow, the Sixers will be north of the border in Toronto, so the Nets may have a small advantage heading into that game on Friday. We will see you then.