Nets Not Going Winless in 2010-11!

The Nets picked up a nice win tonight as they overcame a 9 point second quarter deficit to beat the Pistons 101-87 . Last year, as everyone knows, they won only 12 games. To me, the most critical game of the season was opening night when they blew a 15-point lead to the T-wolves, who ended up as the second worst team in the league. The loss really set the tone for the season as they did not get their first win until December 4. Think about it for a second. They did not win for the entire month of November. That is amazing.

Anyways, I won't allow myself to get too excited as it was simply a win against the Pistons, who might possibly be the worst team in the East. If you look at the stats, you notice that the Pistons shot 16-30 (53.3%) from the foul line. While the Nets outshot Detroit (48.8% vs 44.6%), the Pistons ineptness at the line really was the difference.

As for individual performances, Devin Harris walked away with 22 points and 9 assists, while Brook Lopez had 25 points and 9 boards. T-will had a solid game with 10-6-4 in 32 minutes of the bench. It wasn't as good a night for new starter Travis Outlaw who went 1-7 from the field with 5 fouls in 21 minutes. The teams other new starter, Anthony Morrow added 13 while Jordan Farmer had 10. And finally, 3rd overall draft pick Derrick Favors had 8 points and 10 boards in his NBA debut. Overall, not a bad night but with room for improvement.

The biggest issue was that they started Joe Smith at PF, which really is terrible. I'm not sure I want Favors starting quite yet, but couldn't we either go small and start T-Will or go with a natural PF in Kris Humphries? No knock on Joe Smith because he is an accomplished veteran, but he should not be starting. I'm not sure when Troy Murphy will return, but we will miss him until then.

UPDATE: It says here that they were down 7 with 1:39 left. They outscored Detroit by 6 over the next minute and Anthony Morrow hit a wide open 3-pointer to put them ahead with 30 seconds left. Knowing this, it is even a better win.