Nets Win Eighth Game of 2014 by Defeating Magic

nba.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

January 21^st, 2014

Orlando Magic vs Brooklyn Nets Post Game Recap

Final Score: Magic 90 Nets 101

The Brooklyn Nets picked up their eighth win of 2014 on Tuesday night against the Orlando Magic, as the Nets are now riding a three-game winning streak, and have the best record in the NBA in 2014. The win moves the Nets to (18-22) on the season, and are closing in on the Toronto Raptors for first place in the Atlantic Division, just two games back.

Positives-

The player of the game for the Nets in Tuesday's win was Andray Blatche, who had his third straight great game off the bench. For the third straight game, Blatche scored in double figures, as he had a game-high 18 points on six for 11 shooting. He did however lose his two-game double-double streak, as he only had five rebounds. In the fourth quarter Blatche got the crowd going with a huge dunk after he blew by Kyle O'Quinn.

All of a sudden the Nets seem to have a very formidable bench unit with the great play from Blatche of late, and the return of Deron Williams, who played his second straight game off the bench. Williams played pretty well again, as its pretty difficult coming back to a back to back, but Williams scored nine points on four for 10 shooting to go along with a team-high nine assists in 28 minutes. Mirza Teletovic provided a nice scoring boost to the bench, as he scored 14 points on five for 10 shooting, which included him going four for eight from beyond the arc.

The new starting lineup of Shaun Livingston, Alan Anderson, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett is now 6-0 together, and in Tuesday's win they played very well on the defensive end, and had a well balanced attack on offense. Johnson and Pierce led the way for the starting lineup in scoring, as they both scored 13 points on a combined 11 for 20 shooting. They both also did a good job on the glass, as Pierce had six and Johnson added five rebounds. Kevin Garnett was very efficient in his 18 minutes, as he had eight points on four for five shooting, with five rebounds.

Last season the third quarter was a total disaster most of the time for the Nets, but with just a four-point lead heading into halftime Jason Kidd got his guys to play a fantastic third quarter, which essentially won them the game. In the third the Nets out scored the Magic 27-14, as besides a good scoring quarter, the Nets put the clamps defensively on the Magic holding them to three for 21 shooting in the quarter.

Next up for the Nets will be a nice little break before they will be hosting Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.