An injured Nets team had a chance to get healthy Wednesday night at the Prudential Center. No players returned from injury, but they got to play the Detroit Pistons.
Consider the Nets just as wounded as before.
The Pistons staved off a lengthy Nets’ comeback attempt and held on for a 99-92 win.
Deron Williams came alive in the fourth quarter, burying four three-pointers and scoring 17 points, but his scoring alone was not enough.
Energy lapses, missed assignments, and poor preparation caused the Nets to lose to a 20-loss Detroit team.
“We missed some shots, didn’t get back (on defense), didn’t get the stops we needed, and didn’t pay attention to the scouting report, a lot of tendencies,” Williams said. “Just things that we’ve got to realize while the game’s going on and try and cut off.”
The Pistons responded to every Nets’ run with a counter of their own.
After a Williams’ four-point play cut the Pistons lead to one with 8:28 remaining, Detroit answered with three straight baskets. One of which was a reverse dunk by Jonas Jerebko over Williams.
“Every time the Nets made a run, we would bend, but we didn’t break,” Detroit coach Lawrence Frank said. “We answered. For our team that’s good.”
The Nets crawled to within 86-83 on another Williams’ three-pointer, but the Pistons came out of a Lawrence Frank timeout with all the right calls.
Detroit went on a 9-2 run to put the game out of reach.
The struggling Pistons (7-20) beat the Nets with a balanced offensive attack. They had six players score in double-figures, including a team-high 20 points and 12 rebounds from Greg Monroe.
“It’s definitely one we let slip away and we’d like to have back,” Williams added.
The Nets needed heroic efforts from Williams and Jordan Farmar.
Williams scored a game-high 34 points while Farmar added 22 points off the bench.
The Nets used a 24-10 run to get back into the game after falling behind by 18 points.
Despite trailing by as many as 18 in the third quarter, the Nets cut their deficit to seven at the end of the quarter.
Keith Bogans knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing with 1:15 left to pull the Nets within 74-67, the score at the end of the third.
“When you go uphill the whole game a lot of times you don’t have energy to, at the end of the game when the game’s on the line, to go over the hump,” Shelden Williams said.
The Pistons opened the quarter with three straight jumpers to go ahead, 57-39.
The Nets put on a clinic in offensive ineptitude in the first half, shooting 34.2 percent from the field and making only one three-pointer.
The Pistons surged to a 12-point lead at halftime, capped by Brandon Knight’s strong drive to the rim for a layup and the foul.
The three-point play gave the Pistons a 51-39 lead.
Jordan Farmar went 4-of-6 from the field and scored 11 points in the first half. His teammates shot 28.1 percent
Jonas Jerebko led all scorers at the break with 12 points.
The two teams were locked in a defensive stalemate until the Pistons went on an 11-0 run to take a 33-24 lead midway through the second quarter.
“We can’t come out lethargic and with no energy,” Shelden Williams said.
Anthony Morrow returned to the Nets’ lineup after missing Monday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls to attend his grandmother’s funeral.
Injury Updates
With half the Nets lineup injured, they decided to update when they will release information on their various maladies.
Brook Lopez’s rehab from a broken right foot will be updated every Friday while rookie MarShon Brooks’ status will be better known on Feb. 12.
Veteran swingman DeShawn Stevenson will not return until at best Feb. 14. No updates will be provided on his status until then.
Mehmet Okur, meanwhile, is scheduled for another procedure on his injured back Sunday.
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