Deron Williams’ home debut spoiled by Phoenix Suns in an overtime loss, 104-103
Deron Williams’ home debut was spoiled by an overtime thriller produced by the Phoenix Suns who held the New Jersey Nets to a 104-103 overtime loss at the Prudential Centre, Newark, NJ. The Nets have now been lowered to their sixth straight loss but
this one was as unexpected as an earth quake. Channing Frye played lead role in making things worse for the newly traded Williams. Everything changed in just the blink of an eye as New Jersey saw a big three-pointer coming from Frye as the game took its last
breaths in the overtime.
Marcin Gortat kept the Phoenix Suns up with 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in his game from off the bench. Hakim Warrick scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds whereas Robin Lopez clinched 14 points in 23 points. He also added three points
in the overtime as the Suns hit eight points to seal the victory.
The Suns coach Alvin Gentry seemed very angry with his team and also said that they were lucky in winning the game somehow. "That's ridiculous, that's the worst basketball game I've seen down the stretch. That was horrible. We are lucky as anything
to win the game, to tell the truth and be honest with you."
Williams scored 13 points and dished out 18 assists for the Nets whereas Steve Nash had 15 dimes for the Suns. Both the point guards had a combined 33 assists, which is a very big number for two point guards to achieve in the same game.
Brook Lopez shot game-high 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and it’s a shame that even those 28 points could not save the Nets from the fateful loss. Kirk Humphries finished the game by adding a double-double in a stretch of 40 plus minutes. The player
notched 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds going 8-for-15 from the field.
Anthony Morrow tried his best to secure the win for the Nets and pinned as many as nine points in the final 22 seconds of the regulation. It was Morrow’s 3rd free throw that tied the game at 96-all. B. Lopez clinched one free
throw provided and missed the second one, Frye on seeing a clearing tossed a 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left in overtime that gave the Suns a one-point lead over the opposition, 104-103. Williams missed a bank shot. End of game.
When asked about the offensive game, Nets coach Avery Johnson was quoted as saying, "We put in a whole new offense this morning. I never put in an offense on the day of the game, and it worked so good."
The Nets had a lot planned for Williams’ first home game. It was indeed memorable for the fans as the first 10,000 spectators entering the game received Williams’ New Jersey’s No. 8 t-shirts. The player received a warm welcome from the audience on
entering the arena, occupying a surprise last place in the lineup and the announcer Gary Sussman gave him a tremendous welcome. The 15,836 fans present there gave the new star a standing ovation making him realize that Newark will be expecting a lot from him.
The infamous rapper Jay-Z was also present to cheer up the audience along with wife, Beyonce. Former football analyst Michael Strahan was also present to witness the clash.
As the NBA takes the game to London on 4 and 5 March, the Nets will contest the Toronto Raptors in the Great Britain on Friday and Saturday. As for the Suns, they meet Boston Celtics next at Boston on Wednesday.
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