Thaddeus Young Hero of the Game

In a very close game with 10 lead changes, seven ties and even a lackluster start, the Brooklyn Nets eked out an 87-83 win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday. The Nets win over the Pistons was the third straight win at home, bringing their record to 4-13.

“It’s really interesting how the league (NBA) is,” said Nets head coach Lionel Hollins. “Last night, we played great and we lost. Tonight, we were very inconsistent and we had maybe an eight- or nine-minute stretch playing well and we come away with a win.”

Brooklyn Nets forward Thaddeus Young led Brooklyn Nets scorers with 19 points and 10 rebounds; Brook Lopez scored 15 points, set his season-high blocks at 6 and tied his career-high steals at four. Joe Johnson put up 13 points, five rebounds, and one assist;
Wayne Ellington was a spark coming off the Nets bench and put up a season-high 12 points. And, not to be outdone, Jarrett Jack chipped in 11 points, five rebounds, four assists, and one steal.

“I thought that we had no real push early on, but Joe jump-started us and Thad kept us going when he came back into the game even though he had two fouls. Wayne made some big shots and Shane (Larkin) made big shots. As we were coming down the stretch in the fourth quarter, I was able to let Jarrett stay out to the end to rest and Jarrett hit a big shot. Brook got going when he went back in again and we were able to get enough stops and make enough free throws to close the game out,” Hollins added.

With pick-and-roll defense, the highest number of team defensive rebounds at 44, and holding Detroit to 33.7 percent shooting, the Nets allowed their fewest points of the season.

“We just played good defense at the end. We played hard, we played aggressive, we believed in ourselves and had a lot of confidence in the stuff we were doing,’’ Young said. “We executed down the stretch, and the defense really took over.’’