Deron Williams came close to a triple double Sunday night.
He had 19 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 97-87 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Williams' near triple double would have been the first of the season for the Nets, who improved to 5-12 on the season.
"It was close. I've been close a number of times," Williams said. "It will happen someday."
MarShon Brooks added 20 points for the Nets, while Anthony Morrow added 19 points.
"I've been shooting a lot of 3s. I've been hitting a lot of them so I find myself settling for that shot. I need to be a little bit more efficient," Brooks said. "Early we made shots. We put up some good numbers today so that was good."
Rookie Kemba Walker led the Bobcats with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Gerald Henderson had 15 points while Bismack Biyombo and Derrick Brown had 11 each.
"I hope Kemba can continue to play well," Charlotte coach Paul Silas said. "We saw tonight he really pushed it and was into the game. If we had some of our injured guys here with him tonight, I think we would have a legitimate shot of winning the game."
The Nets got off to a strong start. Morrow's 3 early in the second quarter increased the Nets' lead to 38-25.
With less than a minute remaining in the half, he made a 3 to push the advantage to 14 at 56-42.
New Jersey led 58-42 at halftime.
"We played pretty good offense overall. The goal was to try and get to 100 points," coach Avery Johnson of New Jersey said. "We figured that (the) first team to 100 would really have a chance to win.
"We made more shots tonight."
Without the injured Brook Lopez, New Jersey has relied on its perimeter shooting.
The Nets shot 38 of 86 from the field, including 7 of 27 from 3-point range.
Charlotte shot 46.8 percent from the field and 35.7 percent on 3-pointers.
Walker struggled some against the more experienced guards of the Nets.
Late in the second quarter, Williams knocked the ball free to start a fast break that ended with a two-handed dunk by Kris Humphries.
CHARLOTTE (87) — Henderson 6-12 2-2 15, Thomas 3-5 0-0 6, Mullens 1-5 0-0 2, Augustin 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 5-13 5-7 16, Diaw 2-3 0-0 4, Higgins 5-10 0-0 10, Biyombo 5-6 1-4 11, Najera 2-3 0-0 6, Brown 5-11 0-2 11, Carroll 3-11 0-0 6. Totals 37-79 8-15 87.
NEW JERSEY (97) — Stevenson 0-2 0-0 0, Humphries 4-11 0-0 8, Okur 3-11 0-0 7, D.Williams 8-17 2-2 19, Brooks 9-17 2-2 20, Morrow 6-10 4-4 19, She.Williams 2-5 1-2 5, Farmar 4-7 4-4 13, Sha.Williams 2-6 1-1 6, Owens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 38-86 14-15 97.
Charlotte | 21 | 21 | 19 | 26 | — | 87 |
New Jersey | 28 | 30 | 17 | 22 | — | 97 |
3-Point Goals—Charlotte 5-14 (Najera 2-2, Henderson 1-1, Walker 1-3, Brown 1-3, Higgins 0-2, Carroll 0-3), New Jersey 7-27 (Morrow 3-4, Farmar 1-2, D.Williams 1-5, Sha.Williams 1-5, Okur 1-8, Brooks 0-1, Stevenson 0-2). Rebounds—Charlotte 44 (Biyombo 7), New Jersey 54 (Humphries 10). Assists—Charlotte 18 (Diaw, Walker 4), New Jersey 19 (D.Williams 10). Total Fouls—Charlotte 20, New Jersey 14. A—10,035.
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