The Nets bounced back from an ugly loss with a 104-89 win over the Sacramento Kings at Barclays Center on Sunday, but they lost forward Paul Pierce to a shoulder injury in the process, raising more concerns about the health of some of the team's veterans as the regular season enters its final stretch.
Pierce left the game 1 minute 13 seconds in, after sustaining a blow on a layup attempt by Sacramento's Jason Thompson.
Injuries have more or less haunted the Nets since the outset of the season, and it appears that there will be no letup in the season's final 21 games. The team was already without Kevin Garnett, who missed a fifth consecutive game with back spasms, and Andrei Kirilenko left the game with a sprained right ankle midway through the third quarter.
That puts additional pressure on Coach Jason Kidd as he tries to balance an obvious desire to keep winning - and avoid a drop to the seventh or eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, which would set up a first-round playoff series against Miami or Indiana - and the need to keep his players as healthy as possible for April and May.
'They're both day to day,' Kidd said of Pierce and Kirilenko. 'We'll see they feel.'
Kidd added: 'Unfortunately, injuries are part of the game. Our theory is next guy up, and we've had guys that have been able to do that.'
With their strong play since Jan. 1, the Nets (31-30) seem to have certified themselves as a playoff team. The next question concerns seeding and what the team can do to better position itself for a deep run.
Kidd said before the game that he did not plan to toy with his players' minutes in an effort to win games late in the season. He said he felt comfortable with the team's current depth.
'We're a deep team, so we have a lot of guys,' Kidd said. 'I said it before, whatever record we end up with, that's the seeding we'll get, and we'll have to play that opponent.'
The Nets missed their first 17 shots from beyond the arc on Friday at Boston, but Deron Williams quickly calmed fears of a repeat performance. He connected on his first 3-point attempt to help the Nets jump ahead, 11-2.
They pushed the lead to 16 early in the second quarter, but Sacramento ended the first half on an 11-4 run.
The Kings kept it up with a 17-8 run to start the second half and evened the score at 57-57, the game's first tie since 0-0. But DeMarcus Cousins, who finished with 28 points and 20 rebounds, picked up his fourth foul with more than three minutes left in the third quarter, and before the period was over, the Nets' lead was back up to 12.
'We tightened it up and got some turnovers,' Kidd said. 'We were able to capitalize on the other end.'
Marcus Thornton, who was traded from the Kings to the Nets on Feb. 20, scored 21 of his team-high 27 points in the second half, lighting up his former team with 13 consecutive points during one stretch in the fourth quarter. He was 6 of 7 in a scorching fourth that allowed the Nets to cruise.
Joe Johnson added 18 points in 27 minutes, and Deron Williams had 10 points and 7 assists. The Nets forced 24 turnovers while committing just 11 of their own, employing their assaulting, hand-intensive defense on a Sacramento team prone to making careless mistakes.
The Nets also made a concerted effort to get inside the paint and avoid relying on outside shots as they did in Boston, when they went 4 for 30 from deep. On Sunday, the Nets were 12 of 25 from 3-point range - a bulk of the attempts came in garbage time - and scored nearly half their points inside.
It was a strong bounce-back performance that lifted the Nets back above .500.
Pierce said that he had sustained a stinger in Boston on Friday and that he had been dealing with soreness in the shoulder for some time, which he ascribed to years of banging in the paint, dating to his days with the Celtics. But he shrugged off the pain and started for the Nets on Sunday.
That did not last long. Within the first minute, Pierce was on the bench holding his right arm again.
The Nets did not need him. They might not need him again Monday, when they face the Toronto Raptors. But they will certainly need him in April and May.
REBOUNDS
Reggie Evans, who was traded to Sacramento along with Jason Terry for Marcus Thornton on Feb. 20, said he had 'no bad feelings' about the move or the Nets. Evans had nine rebounds in 17 minutes Sunday in his first game back in Brooklyn.
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, March 9, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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