Nets vs Knicks: Jersey Sans Deron Williams and Kris Humphries Take on New York

Tonight’s game against the New York Knicks will be a Deron Williams-less affair for the New Jersey Nets.

Much like the Knicks will be without their star forward Amar’e Stoudemire, the Nets will be star-powerless without Williams, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season as he will need surgery to repair his injured wrist.

“I think this was something that developed,” Johnson said in an article by Tom Canavan of AP. “I'm just glad we found it and he's going to have the procedure done and we can get it behind us and, hopefully, he won't have to deal with this at another point in his career…We clearly know where we are with this team, Deron is definitely driving the car and when he's not driving it we're a different team.”

Kris Humphries, who was hurt in last week’s game against the Knicks, will also miss the rest of the season.

“He's just not ready to come back, the heel is still a major issue in terms of running, and there is too much discomfort there,” Johnson said to Canavan. “He's been getting treatment around the clock, and this is a guy who has played with so many ailments this season. Again, to close a chapter on his season, really good thoughts about his season.”

The Nets have lost eight of the last 10 games.

The only good news for the Nets is that Anthony Morrow will make his return after missing the last two games with a knee injury.

New York has an edge as they still have Carmelo Anthony to mask the absence of Stoudemire. Riding a five game winning streak—and with only one of the five wins against what can be called a quality opponent in the Orlando Magic—New York could already be looking to their next game against the Indiana Pacers.

New Jersey will not only need Brook Lopez to score 39 points as he did in the teams last game against the Detroit Piston, but even a 50 point performance from Lopez might not be enough for such an injury-ridden squad.

For continuing coverage of the New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks follow Artem Altman via  Twitter.com/ArtemAltman.