It shouldn't be this easy to identify the single most important piece on the most expensive roster in NBA history but it is—Deron Williams is the head, body, heart and soul of the Brooklyn Nets.
In Sunday's winner-take-all Game 7 tilt with the Toronto Raptors (1 p.m. ET on ABC), he'll need to be all of those things and more to retain (recover?) his status as an NBA franchise talent.
He wouldn't even have this opportunity had he faltered in any of those roles during Brooklyn's 97-83 Game 6 win Friday night. As if the pressure to perform then wasn't enough, Williams needed to work his magic after a(nother) scary ankle injury in the third quarter.
With a fan-made missing poster seeking his whereabouts outside the Barclays Center, the hobbled floor general made his presence known.
In 38 minutes of floor time, Brooklyn's key contributor unleashed a dominant display of strong drives to the basket, savvy setups to his teammates and a barrage of long-range buckets, the last of which closed the coffin on Toronto's comeback effort.
All of it added up to 23 points (including fou ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Zach Buckley
Why Deron Williams’ Reputation as Franchise Player Is Firmly on the Line
May 3rd, 2014 by Zach Buckley Leave a reply »
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