Kings-Nets: New Jersey Comes Up Big Late, Winning 106-100

Is there any doubt that this New Jersey Nets team is drastically different from last season's version?

For the second game in a row, New Jersey found itself down late in the fourth quarter and pulled out a victory.

The Nets were smoking early in the game, shooting 59.4 percent in the first half, led by Brook Lopez's 19 points and Devin Harris' six assists in the first 24 minutes.

With just over three minutes left in the second quarter, New Jersey led by 18, but went cold for a while after that.

By halftime Sacramento cut the lead to eight and after three quarters the Kings led 77-76.

New Jersey had a dreadful third quarter; hitting just 4-of-14 shots and scoring all of just 15 points.

Sacramento, on the other hand, scored 24 while putting up 23 shots and connecting on 10 of them.

In the fourth, the Kings made shots at about the same rate, 9-of-21, but the Nets were able to hit a much higher percentage of their shots, going 8-for-13, or 61.5 percent.

For the game New Jersey made 52.5 percent of their attempts.

The emphasis the team placed on acquiring shooters has paid off so far, particularly regarding 3-point shooting.

They were solid in their first game against Detroit, and on Friday they were 6-of-11 from the three. 

With about two and a half left in the game and the team trailing 97-91, Jordan Farmar—who is looking to be a really good pick-up in free agency—nailed a three to make it 97-94.

It was the second game in a row that a Farmar three has sparked a late game comeback.

A couple of misses by the Kings and a free throw from Harris made the score 97-95, leading to a three from Harris with just over a minute left that put New Jersey up 98-97.

The Nets then made a defensive stop and Harris drilled a 17-footer, giving his team a three point lead with 30 seconds left; too much for the Kings to overcome.

New Jersey made the free throws they had to make and ended up winning 106-100.

It's clear Avery Johnson is still tinkering with his rotation, trying to decide who should be on the floor and when.

Terrence Williams saw major minutes in the season opener, but played just 11 against Sacramento and was not on the floor at any point in the fourth quarter; ceding those minutes to Farmar.

There was some discussion heading into the game about the showdown between rookies Derrick Favors and DeMarcus Cousins.

The two know each other well from their pre-college days, and Cousins felt slighted by the fact that New Jersey took another big man, Favors, ahead of him in the draft.

For his part, Favors downplayed the situation just as much as Cousins hyped it up.

The two did not guard each other much and they do have different roles, with Cousins starting and Favors coming off the bench.

Cousins had his hands full defending Lopez, who repeatedly drew fouls on the rookie, eventually leading to Cousins fouling out after scoring 12 points and collecting four rebounds on 3-of-8 shooting.

Favors, who was wildly inconsistent in the preseason, played 20 minutes, grabbing seven boards and scoring 10 points, flashing some of the potential that made him the third overall pick.

The game as a whole was marred by fouls with both teams collecting at least 30 of them.  New Jersey went to the line a whopping 46 times, converting 36 times, which was a big factor in the win.

Another reason for the success was New Jersey's rebounding, which was another point of emphasis over the summer.

The Nets out-rebounded Sacramento 43 to 31, led by Kris Humphries and Favors who combined for 15. 

Five Nets had at least five boards and five were double-digit scorers, highlighting the team effort.

Lopez was the leading scorer with 29 and Harris was right behind him with 21.

Harris played lights-out, adding 10 assists and five rebounds to his point total.  Even better, it took him just 10 shots (he hit on seven of them) to score those points.

A good sign for the Nets was the play of Travis Outlaw, who, after struggling mightily against Detroit, scored 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 2-for-3 on threes.

Also encouraging is that New Jersey overcame 27 turnovers.  Obviously they will need to improve this when they take on better teams, but it showed a considerable amount of mental toughness to keep with it and win.

The Nets will have a much bigger test on Sunday when they host the Miami Heat.

It is still very early in the season, but the step up in competition should give us a better idea of where this team is at.