Deron: Tough stretch on tap for Nets

Time for the Nets to sink their teeth into meaty portion of their schedule.

For the better part of the season’s first month, the Nets haven’t played many expected playoff-caliber teams, save for games against the Heat, Celtics and Lakers. Of those three, their only win came against a Boston team that was missing its floor general, Rajon Rondo.

But beginning Friday night, the Nets (6-4) will embark on a stretch where they’re playing seven games in 12 days against the Clippers, Blazers, Knicks, Celtics, Magic, Heat and Thunder.

“We’ve got a tough stretch coming up, period. Not just these three games, but this whole month.” Deron Williams said after Friday’s shootaround at the Barclays Center as the Nets prepared to host the Clippers (8-3).

“So we have to get it going. We have to find a way to get a rhythm going, get some consistency. It will definitely help having G back in the lineup, hopefully, consistently so we can form that chemistry that we’ve been looking for. We haven’t been able to have steady rotations because of him being out and guys just knowing their minutes, and know their roles. So, hopefully, we can get to that.”

As Williams alluded to, Gerald Wallace will return Friday after sitting out Wednesday’s loss to the Warriors in Oakland to rest his left ankle, and he’s not expected to be on any restrictions regarding minutes.

“Any time we don’t have him, we are going to be a little hurt,” Williams said, “just because he’s really important to our team. But that was a just a game where nothing went right after we got up 10 points. We just couldn’t find the basket, and defensively, we had a lot of lapses.

“We just need to play a lot better than we did against the Warriors.”

Especially with the Clippers on tap. They average 102.4 points per game and feature several players who can fill it up. Their leading scorer, Jamal Crawford, comes off the bench and still is netting 19.7 points per game.

Then there’s Williams’ good buddy Chris Paul, who’s averaging 15.6 points and 9.9 assists per game.  

“I enjoy playing against him,” Williams said. “But I don’t circle these games any more than I do the next, but I do enjoy playing against him. I think he brings out the best in me to play a good 48 minutes of basketball.”

Williams knows Paul’s quickness makes him tough to guard.

“Yeah, yeah, definitely,” he said. “[He’s] smart, knows how go use angles. He’s a good player.”