The Nets entered Golden State with a bit of a weight on their shoulders. They had yet to pick up a Victory on the current West road string. And most notably had been the poor defensive performances in back to back losses. Jersey gave up 100+ points to both Sacramento & Phoenix. The Nets definately needed to turn it around on the defensive end, if they wanted a win in G-State. But they would have to do it without Jason Collins, who sat out with a leg injury suffered in the loss to the Kings earlier in the Week. The Nets stepped up to the changelle defensively. And used that end of the court to set their tone in the game. The Nets held the Warriors to just 14 first quarter points. And took a 14 point lead into the 2nd quarter. From there they got a major spark from the supporting cast. Brain Scalabrine, who replaced Collins in the starting lineup, led all Jersey scorers with 29pts. He did an excellent of using his shooting range to stretch the Warriors bigs out toward the perimeter. Scalabrine's shooting opened up the lanes & paint area a bit. And the Nets used it to their advantage with backdoor cuts for layups and easy opportunies off the offensive boards. That was a major reason Jersey shot 53% from the field on the night. But Scalabrine wasnt the only Nets role player to come up with a strong game. Rodney Buford's streaky season continued. After not being able to hit the ocean against Sac-town, Buford bounced back to shoot 8-13 from the field on his way to droppong 20pts. Kristic also added a double-double before fouling out late in the 4th. The most interesting part of the 2nd half may have been the pshyical exchanges between Kristic and Golden State's Troy Murphy. Murphy wasnt looking to psyhically bully the rookie. But Krstic responded with a few strong arms of his own. It almost got out of hand but the refs quickly de-flammed the fire. And this can just be looked at as another step in the growing process of the 21 year Old rookie. Krstic finished with 14pts and 10 rebounds. Nets also got solid contributions from the bench, most notably from Billy Thomas. For those that dont know Billy Thomas is a 10 day contract player the Nets picked up last week after releasin Keniel Dickens. Billy Thomas contributed 12 pts including a couple big basket early in the 4th when the game was still somewhat competive. Billy Thomas seems to be working his way into a small role in Coach Franks rotation. Lets see how long he stay with the team Rice, Storey,Dickens have all fallen by the waste slide trying to earn a job filling in as a role wing player. <font size="3">Final Nets 113- Warriors 99</font>
