Deron Williams out of Nets lineup and "next man up" mentality propels Nets to a victory; Brook Lopez thanks fans for NBA All-Star Support

Despite Deron Williams missing his second straight game of the season, the Brooklyn Nets managed to defeat the Denver Nuggets 119-108 Wednesday night at Barclays Center.

The 119 points were a season-high for Brooklyn, topping the 115-point game against the Sacramento Kings on January 5.

Brooklyn was led by Brook Lopez, Joe Johnson, and C.J. Watson, who each scored over 20 points. Watson replaced Deron Williams in the starting lineup.

Williams has missed 23 games since joining the Nets, including the Nets' wins over the Pacers and Nuggets this week because of inflammation in his ankles.

When all was said and done, Williams' replacement scored a season-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting and five threes.

Denver was led by Ty Lawson, who had 26 points and 9 assists in the game.

Lopez who finished the game with 23 points, acknowledged the fans at Barclays before the start of the game, expressing his excitement for the All-Star game Sunday.

After the game, the 24-year-old center told reporters that he was "thankful" and admitted he heard the "Lopez All-Star" chant while sitting on the bench.

"I'm expecting to have a lot of fun. The guys have been great so far," Lopez said on February 13 in an interview.

Kris Humphries, who has been dealing with an ongoing divorce battle with estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, provided much of the offense of the first half for the Nets.

Humphries scored 10 points in just 10 minutes. The Nets shot 9-of-14 from the 3-point line in first half and ended the half with a 62-57 lead over Denver. Despite NBA trade rumors, Humphries finished with 14 points.

The Nets (31-22) will play the Milwaukee Bucks on February 19 at the Barclays Center.

Nets blow nine-point lead; DeMarcus Cousins drops 37 points on Nets in win for the Kings

Sean Kilpatrick scored 22 points, Brook Lopez had 17 points; Bojan Bogdanovic added 13 points, and Isaiah Whitehead chipped in 11 points for the Nets, in their loss to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. In losing 122-105, the Nets have lost seven straight games.

The Nets kept it competitive through the first half; leading the Kings 35-31 at the end of the first quarter and 59-58 at the end of the first half. However, the third quarter arrived and as in games in the recent past, things began to unravel in a way that no one seems to be able to explain.

“I don’t know,” Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We have to fix the third quarter blues. For some reason, we don’t come out with the requisite and the energy that we need to. We felt that and I think we called a timeout and addressed it, so we need to figure that one out because that’s hurting us. We cut it to six like you said, made a run there with that group and again they made some shots and we turned the ball over a few times.”

That ball movement in the direction of Sacramento translated into starters DeMarcus Cousins scoring 37 points and 11 rebounds; Rudy Gay posting up 22 points and eight rebounds; and Darren Collison adding 18 points; while Ty Lawson chipped in 13 points off the bench.

Most Nets games are generally run of the mill, but it took Sacramento’s Matt Barnes to make a hockey game out of an NBA basketball game by clocking Brooklyn’s Kilpatrick for seemingly no reason. The officials promptly ejected Barnes for a Flagrant Foul 2 on Kilpatrick with 9:34 left in the fourth quarter and Sacramento leading 97-79. Brooklyn then went on a 14-2 run to cut the deficit to 99-93, but Sacramento responded with a 16-0 run of its own to extend the lead to 115-93.

“It was more of a why, why would you do that, but I mean it was still the same mentality. It was the same killer mentality,” Kilpatrick stated regarding the Matt Barnes hit. “You gotta keep continuing to try to destroy anybody that’s in your way and I think that’s something that told me to get up. I mean at the end of the day if were down 10 and I go down like that and were on a roll, I mean that’s not gonna stop me. I mean I gotta get up and keep playing and I think that’s something that triggered me off the way it did. ”

Next up at home for the Brooklyn Nets is a date with the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, November 29 at 7:30 p.m., and still no word when Jeremy Lin will return.