The New Jersey Nets kicked off their four game West coast swing with a bang, taking down the Los Angeles Clippers 110-96 at Staples Center Monday night.
Before they try to make it two in a row against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, here are three good stats to take away from the Nets 4th victory of the season.
1.33-20 Bench Scoring
It seems like every game, no matter if the Nets are leading or trailing, they are being failed by their second unit. A big reason for the problems is the continued absence of do-it-all Terrence Williams who is still out with an abdominal strain, but as a whole the bench has been a disappointment early on in the season. That wasn't a problem Monday in LA.
One of the biggest reasons was the emergence of Jordan Farmar (15 points). After an impressive preseason, the backup point guard has struggled to find a groove. It would appear playing at his old stomping grounds helped to snap him out of his funk and getting a season-high 35 minutes after the premature exit of Devin Harris certainly didn't hurt matters.
Speaking of which...
2. 1 Flagrant Foul
No one is saying you should go out trying to hurt someone, but at the same time the Nets have been a team that for too long gave up layup after layup. So, yes, when Harris grabbed Blake Griffin around the shoulders and pulled him to the ground at the tail end of a breakaway it is a good thing for the Nets season.
New Jersey has talked about wanting to be more physical, but short of a Terrence Williams hip check of LeBron James it has mostly rang hollow. Monday night in Staples Center, there was a different kind of ringing going on and it was Griffin's bell.
The flagrant foul got Harris ejected, but it seemed to energize his teammates, who refused to break when tested without their point guard later in the game.
Take a look and decide if the foul was ejection-worthy
3. 59.7% Shooting
There were plenty that the Nets did wrong against the Clippers (which we'll talk about later on) but you can get away with a whole lot more when you shoot nearly 60% from the floor. And this wasn't a case of a couple players shooting out of their mind to cover up for teammates.
Outside of Stephen Graham's 1-for-4 night, every single Net that attempted a shot finished the night with a percentage north of 45. It's awfully hard to lose when a team fills it up at that clip.