"With injuries, late signings and all the scheduling goodies the NBA has dumped upon them, the Nets looked at their current plight and saw that delightful little scenario known as the back-to-back-to-back death march, three games in three nights. Last night they were in the middle of that horror.

They had already completed the first segment, a loss to the Thunder on Saturday. Looking ahead, they saw the best team on the planet, the Bulls, in Chicago tonight. It's not being overly negative to say no one feels all warm and fuzzy about the Nets' prospects there. So they needed the middle segment last night against the struggling Bobcats. Needed it real bad. So they went after it early, unleashing Deron Williams."