It's déjà vu all over again for the Nets.
Continuing their second straight red-hot January, the Nets used a huge third quarter to top the Magic, 101-90, at Barclays Center Tuesday night.
After getting blown out in San Antonio on New Year's Eve for the second year in a row, it appears the Nets have turned their season around following an upset win in Oklahoma City on Jan. 2, as Tuesday night's win marked the Nets' third victory in a row, and their eighth win in nine games since the calendar shifted to 2014.
With the win, the Nets (18-22) moved to within two games of Toronto for first place in the Atlantic Division and a full game-and-a-half ahead of ninth-place Charlotte in the Eastern Conference. It seems the Nets finally have begun to live up to the high expectations.
Tuesday's game was a continuation of that, as the Nets allowed a woeful Orlando team that entered Monday 1-9 in January to hang around for a half before outscoring them 27-14 in the third quarter, using seven points from Paul Pierce and six from Shaun Livingston to help blow the game wide open and open a 73-56 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Nets also limited the Magic to just 3-for-21 shooting in the third.
From there, the game turned into a shooting gallery for Mirza Teletovic, who knocked down three 3-pointers in the fourth, and an exhibition for Andray Blatche, who finished with 18 points that included a mammoth poster dunk over Magics reserve center — and Queens native — Kyle O'Quinn immediately followed by a corner 3-pointer on the next possession.
It also was the second straight game Deron Williams came off the bench after sitting out the previous five following cortisone shots and platelet rich plasma injections in both of his troublesome ankles. For the second straight game, Williams looked comfortable, finishing with nine points and nine assists in 28 minutes.
The ankle issues Williams has dealt with all season — and for most of last year — have taken their toll on the point guard, leaving his teammates to try to keep his spirits up.
"[With] him trying to get back and his urgency and what he expects from himself, he beats himself up a lot," Kevin Garnett said of Williams after Monday's matinee blowout victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
If the Nets want to continue their recent run of success, they're going to need Williams to get back to the kind of level he was playing at last year — something he and his teammates have come to understand.
"Oh, it gives us a huge boost, because we need Deron," Paul Pierce said. "No matter how we've been playing, if we're going to make some noise here in the East, we need what he's able to do.
"You saw what he was doing before he got injured. We need that Deron to come out here and be aggressive, to be a facilitator, to really lead."
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