Brooks' rookie mistake costs Nets in loss

ATLANTA -- Jeff Teague scored 22 points and Joe Johnson added 21 Friday night as the Hawks won their third straight game to open the season, beating the Nets, 105-98.

Deron Williams had 23 points and rookie MarShon Brooks added 21 for the Nets (1-3), who have dropped three straight.

The Hawks were in a tight game for the first time this season. Their biggest lead was nine early in the fourth quarter, but a reverse layup by Williams brought the Nets within 98-96. Johnson's short jumper put the Hawks up 100-96 with 20.6 seconds remaining when Brooks made a huge blunder.

The Nets had no timeouts remaining as he tried to inbound. But with teammates covered, Brooks signaled for a timeout.

"He got put in a bad situation," Nets coach Avery Johnson said. "We had no timeouts left, and it's on us as a coaching staff to do a better job of reminding him about that because he's one of our best guys at taking the ball out. But it's more than that, because Deron got double-teamed, and we should have had more guys coming at the ball."

Said Brooks: "Coach pulled me to the side and said don't worry about the decision I made. Just continue to play hard."

After Brooks' mistake, Johnson hit the technical free throw and closed the game with four more free throws.

Mehmet Okur scored 15 points and Kris Humphries had 13 rebounds for the Nets.

Williams had a solid second half, scoring 19 points and handing out five assists. He had averaged 10 points, six turnovers and four assists in the previous two games. "We took a step in the right direction," he said. "We were able to battle tonight. That's a team that beat us by [36] at home [on Tuesday night], so this is a much better effort."

Regarding the offense, Williams said, "I'm not getting much out of pick-and-rolls because teams are just sitting on me. I think [isolations] are going to be more effective until we figure out the pick-and-roll game. I was able to get something going and turn it around and hopefully get my confidence going."-- AP