Repent, the end must be near. The Nets won a game last night, and surely that is one of the signs of the Apocalypse.
Somewhere, it likely was written: “When oceans run red with blood, when heavens spew flames upon the land, when man, mammal, fish and fowl cease to breathe and when the Nets get back within 36 games of .500, then will the End of Days be upon us.”
So for just the fourth time this season — first since the calendar read 2010 — and despite being shorthanded with their starting backcourt shelved, the Nets embarrassed the Clippers, 103-87, to move to 4-40 before 9,220, the smallest crowd of the season at the Meadowlands. That ended an 11-game losing streak and brought their first victory since they dumped the Knicks on Dec. 30.
They did it after taking several punches from the Clippers who had whipped them in L.A. 10 days ago. They blew a 16-point lead. Then after going back up by 10, they let the Clippers within three. But they responded. Positively.
“We didn’t let it mentally get us down,” said Keyon Dooling, who scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, filling in for the ailing point guard, Devin Harris (sore right wrist), and Courtney Lee (wisdom tooth extraction) also sat. “They made a few runs on us. But we hung in there and we didn’t hold our heads down. We just continued to play basketball and eventually we won.”
And sidestepped negative history in the process.
“What that is, is all about players playing hard,” interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. “I told the guys that they would win when they decided enough is enough. It mattered enough to them.”
The victory prevented the Nets from owning the worst 44-game start in history. Now, they’re tied at 4-40 with the 1993-94 Mavs and the worst-ever 1972-73 Sixers. The win came with good ball movement (29 assists), sharp shooting (53.2 percent) and active defense (Clippers had 18 turnovers and 42.1-percent shooting). It left the Clippers bummed.
“Words can’t even describe it,” Baron Davis said.
The Nets packed the paint, although Chris Kaman did score 24, but were more aggressive than they have been in ages. And they got massive contributions throughout the lineup. Kris Humphries scored a career high for the second time in seven games as a Net, dumping in 25. Brook Lopez (19 points, nine rebounds, three blocks) was active, aggressive. Terrence Williams was brilliant without having to score — seven points (but a couple of electrifying dunks) — with eight assists and nine rebounds, solid defense.
“[This] was indicative of the way I played in college, not really scoring the ball, not really needing to,” Williams said. “Just facilitate and pass the ball and still have some control over the game. I was just fortunate enough to do it with the passing ability and defense. That’s what kept me on the floor.”
And helped keep Eric Gordon to 12 points.
And there was no way to overlook Humphries.
“You need this because you hear the same things. ‘We’ve got to compete. We’ve got to do this. We’ve got to do that.’ If you never get a positive result,” Humphries said, “it makes it difficult to say certain things and try to do certain things.”
This time, they did all the right things. When the Clippers closed to within 73-70 in the fourth, the Nets arose. Lopez hit up top. Humphries dunked off a second straight assist from Chris Quinn. Williams, drove and dunked, exciting the crowd. Dooling scored. Jarvis Hayes hit two free throws off his steal and Dooling nailed consecutive jumpers.
The Nets led, 87-74 with 5:17 left in what was their first victory over a Western Conference team since Feb. 7, 2009, 29 losses ago — 19 of them this season.
“In different games we’d have just folded and given up,” Lopez said. “We stuck with it tonight.”