NEW YORK _ Kenny Atkinson had to laugh when someone pointed out that the Nets and Lakers, the two worst teams in the NBA, have the two highest-scoring benches in the league presumably because they lack enough top-tier talent to rise in the standings.
"I'll have to study that a little deeper," the Nets coach said Sunday night. "I didn't know that stat. But I do think that has something to do with it, that we're searching a little bit, trying a lot of different guys. And we don't play our starters 40 minutes a game. Brook [Lopez] is our top minute guy. I think he's at 29. So guys are getting more opportunity coming off the bench."
Say what you will about a season in which the Nets have compiled an 18-59 record, including their 91-82 victory over Atlanta on Sunday night at Barclays Center. But a team that began the season with a roster many critics said was better suited to the D-League than the NBA has worked diligently to develop depth and experience, and their 9-10 record over the past 19 games is a measure of their improvement.
After scoring 72 points the previous night in a win over the Magic, the Nets' bench made just two of their first 23 shots and had only four points as the third period neared its end. But the second unit put together a 15-5 run, including four points each by Isaiah Whitehead and Sean Kilpatrick, spanning the third and fourth quarters to give the Nets a 78-63 lead.
Atlanta cut the deficit to 83-80 on a three-point play by Tim Hardaway Jr. with 3:27 left, but Trevor Booker grabbed a key offensive rebound that led to a corner three by Spencer Dinwiddie for an 86-80 cushion that held up.
Lopez led the Nets (18-59) with 29 points and added five assists and five blocked shots, Jeremy Lin had 15 points and six assists, and Kilpatrick pulled down 11 rebounds. The bench scored 20 of the Nets' final 27 points. Dennis Schroder topped the Hawks (39-38) with 16 points, and Dwight Howard had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
