CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- For three quarters, Anthony Morrow was, well, home. Back in his home town for the second time in a week, the Nets’ shooting guard had family and friends in the stands, folks who had come out to see him play and do something. It took a while for Morrow to deliver.
But it was worth the wait.
Morrow scored all 17 of his points in the fourth quarter of the Nets’ 83-74 victory over the Bobcats Friday night, 10 of them coming in a 3:31 stretch that left the Nets ahead eight with 6:40 to play. The Bobcats made a run but Morrow delivered the dagger with a 3-pointer at 1:14.
“Anthony was just so huge for us in the second half,” coach Avery Johnson said. “We’ve been trying a lot of different ways to get him shots so we talked about it at halftime. Keep it simple. So we kind of gave him some post up looks, some isolation looks and he made the defense pay.”
And put smiles on the faces of family and friends.
“It was great,” Morrow said. “It’s a nice feeling to come home and win in front of my mom and dad and family and get that win on the road. ... We’ve been fighting through adversity all season with injuries and all kinds of stuff. It’s just that we’re sticking together. We’ve got great team chemistry on and off the court.”
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Deron Williams pulled out an “Old School” reference when discussing the Nets’ hopes of making a playoff run.
“We want to go streakin’. In the quad. Everybody’s doing it,” Williams said, channeling his best Will Ferrell. “We need to put together some wins here especially if we want to make a playoff run. “The schedule coming up is pretty favorable to us, if we play like we’re capable of playing.”
Williams is not the only guy thinking playoffs.
“We’ve been looking at it,” DeShawn Stevenson said of the standings – the Nets ended Friday night 4¹/ games behind the eighth-place Knicks. “Coach has this thing where we’ve got to win seven out of 10 games. … Ever since Coach has been saying that, we’ve been playing harder so it’s on our minds so that’s definitely a goal.”
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Johnson’s take on Deron Williams’ sore calf that will keep him out against Houston tonight at least.
“He’s going to get re-evaluated [Saturday],” Johnson said. “Hopefully we’ll get some good news but in the meantime, other guys will have to step up which they did tonight.”
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Corey Maggette led the Bobcats with 19 points, while Bismack Biyombo had an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double. ... The Nets have not had a 3-game win streak this season but are 4-2 since the All-Star Break.
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Anthony Morrow, Bobcats, Bobcats, Avery Johnson, Deron Williams, Nets
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