Brooklyn, NY—The Brooklyn Nets gained revenge for the 109-95 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday with a 94-89 victory at Barclays in Brooklyn on Friday night. The win was the seventh straight on their home court and raised their mark to 10-2 under the direction of head coach P. J. Carlisimo.
It appeared to many of the 17,732 in the crowd that neither team would win the game. The score was tied at 24 at the end of the first quarter, tied at 49 at the conclusion of the first half and tied at 74 in the third quarter.
The Nets scored the first five points in the final period. They increased the lead to a game-high eight points with three minutes on the clock. The Hawks later scored seven unanswered points to cut the deficit to one, 90-89. That was as close as they could get as Deron Williams scored the final four points of the game with free throws. Williams, deadly from the charity stripe, has not missed any of his last 47 attempts.
There was a 15 point differential between the two teams from the free throw line. The Hawks sunk 10 of 14 foul shots, but the Nets netted 25 of 38 attempts. Carlesimo remarked, “To be a good team, you have to make free throws. We did a good job of getting to the line, but you have to make them.”
Control of the boards was another factor in the favor of the Nets. The Nets grabbed 48 rebounds compared to only 35 for the Hawks. Reegie Evans hauled down 20 rebounds for the Nets in only 28 minutes on court.
Williams led the Nets in scoring with 24. Brook Lopez scored 20, Joe Johnson scored 18 and Anthony Blatche netted 11.
The Nets travel to Madison Square Garden for a game against their New York City rival, the Knicks, on Monday afternoon, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.