With the NBA on hiatus and New York continuing its battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak, Brooklyn Nets games will not be played for the foreseeable future.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight impressive individual performances and major moments throughout Nets history:
During his time in Utah, Deron Williams dished out 20 assists in a game four times. He even managed to creep over the mark once in 2007 to set his career-high at 21.
When the Jazz traded Williams to New Jersey in the middle of the 2010-11 season, he was stuffing the stat sheet — when he was available to play for the Nets.
One of Williams’ best performances came on April 5 with the Timberwolves in town. On top of hitting the game-winning jumper with 1.7 seconds left on the clock to finished with 18 points, the Nets point guard dished out 21 assists in New Jersey’s 107-105 win (full box score), tying his career-high.
Williams became the fourth player in Nets history to log 20 or more assists in a game, joining Kevin Porter (twice), Stephon Marbury and Robert Pack.
Porter was the first Nets player to reach the 20 assists mark, setting the then franchise record at 20, oddly enough, on April 5, 1978. He would break the record 20 days later when he dished out 29 assists.
In 2012, Williams would join Porter in being the only Nets to ever dish out 20 assists in two separate games.
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