New Jersey Holds Serve At Home
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In their first extended homestand of the season, Johan Petro and the Nets showed that things are starting to come together in New Jersey.
During a three-game home stretch that ran from Wednesday to Sunday, the Nets won two of their three games, their only loss coming at the hands of the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder.
New Jersey entered the weekend battle tested after grabbing their fourth win of the season on Wednesday night, 107-100, over the Golden State Warriors.
But on Saturday they faced the tough offensive duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Although the Thunder ran away with the lead early, the Nets came back and lost by just 10, 84-74.
Johan was solid in his eight minutes off the bench against Oklahoma City. He checked
in for Shelden Williams with 10:30 left in the second quarter and New Jersey down
30-20.
JP got down to business immediately, as he grabbed a defensive rebound off a missed
3-pointer from Daequan Cook. With
one-minute left in the half, Johan tallied his second defensive rebound, grabbing a Westbrook jump shot. New Jersey trailed by 13 at the break.
No. 27 added his only points to the board late in the game, knocking down a 16-foot jumper off a pass from Jordan Farmar with 33 seconds to go. Though the Thunder led from the first quarter on, the Nets held Oklahoma City to a season-low of 84 points.
They drew off that performance on Sunday when they bounced back to defeat the Charlotte Bobcats, 97-87, and end their homestand 2-1.
NEXT UP
Reserve players like JP will come in handy tonight as the Nets end their only back-to-back-to-back stretch of the season in Chicago against the Bulls.
New Jersey will face a red-hot offense in the Windy City, led by the return of last year's MVP, Derrick Rose. The journey to Chicago will begin a three game road trip for the Nets. They will hit Philadelphia and Cleveland before heading home.
Tip-off from Chicago tonight is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST and the game will be televised on YES.
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