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 When those shots were not falling, Anderson knew something had to
change.
That something was aggressiveness and he displayed it on Thursday
night by scoring 19 of his 22 points in the second half, helping the
Brooklyn Nets end a six-game losing streak to the San Antonio Spurs
with a 103-89 victory at the Barclays Center.
"I started attacking, stopped settling for the 3 so much," Anderson
said. "I just started attacking, and once we started doing that, it
started opening up the lane (for) kick-outs, penetrating and
dishing. Everything started opening up."
Anderson came within four points of his season-high set Dec. 20 at
Philadelphia. He also entered 12 of 33 from the field in his last
five games, including 1 of 8 in Monday night's win over the
Philadelphia 76ers.
"Lately, I've been settling with just standing at the 3 (point line)
and letting it fly," Anderson said. "There's more to my game than
just that and I need to help out the team as much as possible and
not by standing there and shooting 3s."
Nets coach Jason Kidd said, "That just shows he's a veteran guy. He
played around the world and he continues to work on his craft.
Tonight we needed him and he stepped up."
Anderson started slowly by making one of his first four shots from
the field but wound up hitting eight of his next 11, finishing 9 of
15. The highlight of Anderson's second 20-point game of the season
came during a 3:27 stretch bridging the end of the third quarter and
the opening minutes of the fourth.
During that stretch, Anderson scored 11 straight Brooklyn points,
turning a 66-62 lead into a 77-70 edge. He began the spurt with a
13-footer, followed with a 3-point play, a layup and a 17-footer
before connecting on another 17-footer.
"I was just being aggressive," Anderson said. "I stopped settling
for the 3, started trying to get in the paint, started trying to
attack more and I've been aggressive scoring and passing the ball as
well."
Anderson's second-best showing of the season helped the Nets end a
six-game losing streak to the Spurs and reach 100 points against
them for the first time in 27 games since March 6, 2000. The Nets
also beat the Spurs by double digits for the first time since Jan.
19, 1998.
"I thought it was great," Nets forward Kevin Garnett said of
Anderson.
Besides Anderson, Nets point guard Deron Williams had a productive
night. He started 0 of 4 from the floor, briefly injured a knee but
wound up with 16 points and eight assists.
Nets forward Paul Pierce added 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the
field and Andray Blatche chipped in 10 points.
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Garnett had nine of Brooklyn's season-high 53 rebounds, helping the
Nets win for the 12th time in 16 games.
The Nets did not have to face Spurs forward Tim Duncan, point guard
Tony Parker and guard Manu Ginobili. Duncan rested after playing 41
minutes in a double-overtime win at Washington on Wednesday night.
Parker and Ginobili sat out with injuries.
Still, it was a battle for a while until Anderson took over, which
pleased Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
"I'm really proud of my guys," Popovich said. "I thought they did a
great job. After the game last night then to come in here tonight, I
thought the effort was great."
Point guard Cory Joseph led the Spurs with 18 points and guard Danny
Green added 17.
The Spurs bolted to a 20-8 lead and made seven of their first 13
shots from the field but wound up shooting 39.7 percent (29 of 78)
and trailed for the final 24:38.
"I feel that we competed very well," Green said. "We competed hard,
but we did not make a lot of smart plays that we wanted to, which
included some mistakes that led to easy baskets. Looking at the stat
sheet, I didn't realize how poorly we shot it."
NOTES: Brooklyn F Joe Johnson, C-F Andray Blatche and F Andrei
Kirilenko returned from their respective injuries. Johnson missed
one game with a knee injury, Blatche sat for two with an ankle
injury while Kirilenko was out for three games with a calf injury.
... Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he knew that G Tony Parker
(back) would be unable to play after seeing him being unable to bend
over in going for steals. Popovich also is unsure if Parker will
return before the All-Star break when the Spurs continue their
annual "Rodeo Trip" in Charlotte, Detroit and Boston. Besides C Tim
Duncan and Parker, San Antonio was without G Manu Ginobili
(hamstring), F Kawhi Leonard (fractured right hand) and F Boris Diaw
(food poisoning). ... Brooklyn rookie F-C Mason Plumlee was selected
by Chris Webber for his team at next weekend's Rising Stars
Challenge during the All-Star break at New Orleans. ... Johnson, who
is an Eastern Conference reserve, will also participate in the
3-point shooting contest and is the third Net to do so. ... The NBA
also announced that San Antonio F Marco Belinelli will participate
in the 3-point contest.
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