The New Jersey Nets played one of their best games of the season on Saturday night against the Orlando Magic, but came up just short 91-90. Before they head out to the West Coast, here are three good stats for the Nets.
1. Twenty-three Points, 9 of 17 Shooting
Finally, Brook Lopez shows up for the Nets. After struggling against Dwight Howard and the Magic last weekend and then staying in a week-long funk, Lopez held his own this time around. While he only managed to pull down five rebounds, Avery Johnson needs to feel good about his center as New Jersey will play seven of the next 10 games on the road.
2. Forty-nine Percent Shooting
Nine players hit the court for New Jersey on Saturday night and all but shot over 50% from the floor including four of the five starters. If you take away Anthony Morrow's 1 of 6, the Nets other starters were shooting at a 57% clip.
Not too shabby for a team that has averaged less than 43% for the season.
3. Twenty Points, 8 of 11 Shooting, 7 Rebounds
Besides back-to-back poor performances in the third and fourth games, Travis Outlaw has subscribed to the "good game, bad game" alternating schedule. A big reason why the Nets were able to come back from an ugly start and nearly leave for their West coast trip with a "W" is due to one of Outlaw's good games.
The task for the New Jersey coaching staff will be finding a way to get their starting forward to become more consistent. If he can manage to even go "two good, one bad," it will give the Nets offense a much different look.