The New Jersey Nets are back from their trip to London and can now face the stretch run of the season, 20 games, without trade distractions or jet lag. That stretch will begin with two games at the Prudential Center in Newark this week.
Technically, this week in a continuation of a seven-game homestand as last week's two games in England were seen as Nets home games.
First up for Deron Williams and the Nets are the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
The Warriors have lost two straight and six of their last seven, including a 125-117 overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night. The game will be the final of a seven game road trip for the Warriors, who open the week seven back of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.
New Jersey will be looking to avenge a 109-100 loss back on January 17, when the Nets were wrapping up a winless four-game West Coast swing and dropped 11 of 12.
The other game on the schedule for the Nets this week is Friday night against Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers.
After losing 12 of 14 games, the Clippers seem to have turned the corner with three straight victories. The last was a 92-87 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday night. Los Angeles had just gotten guard Eric Gordon back from injury when he went down again on Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets. He is not expected to be with the team in Newark on Friday.
In their only other meeting this year, the Nets took out the Clippers 110-96 on November 15 in one of their more impressive road victories of the season.
The Nets are 2-3 since acquiring Williams from the Utah Jazz at the trade deadline, though the point guard has played well enough for the team to go undefeated. He is averaging 15.8 points and 15.2 assists per game while playing with injuries on both hands.
Brook Lopez continues to be the leading scorer for New Jersey, pouring in 19.8 points per game for the season and 24.2 since getting to play with Williams.
Owning the glass for the Nets continues to be Kris Humphries with 9.6 per game. Like Lopez, his game has been elevated since Williams came on board, as Humphries has pulled down 13.2 rebounds over the last five games. Only Kevin Love and Dwight Howard rebound at a better level than the one Humphries has while playing with Williams.
Here are the stats for the rest of the Nets.