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Is Deron Williams finally out of his funk?

By Net Income
USA TODAY Sports

When P.J. Carlesimo took over the Nets two weeks ago, he said that Deron Williams was the least of his worries. He believed that Williams problems were being "overanalyzed" and that he didn't think his point guard had fallen off as much as pundits believed. He may have been right.

Over the past four games, all wins, Williams has played at levels not seen previously this season. Williams is averaging 20 points and 8.8 assists per game over the last four contests, shooting 48.1 percent overall and 50 percent from deep. He says he's loosened up.

"I feel good," Williams said after the Nets' 20-point road win over the Sixers. "I'm just trying not to think so much when I'm out there on the court, just go and play. That's when I'm at my best."

That's a far cry from just before the winning streak began when on the morning of the Thunder game, he said, "I just got to figure out ways to play better" and said he was more frustrated with his game than he'd been "probably my whole life."

Will it keep up? Joe Johnson hopes so. He credits a lot of the Nets recent success to D-Will being to hit the open shot and play with confidence. He tells Rod Boone, "It opens up the floor because now, he has the pick-and-pop with Brook. Guys don't want to leave Brook. You have me and Gerald in the corner. So it makes it rough. You have to pick your poison."

Said his coach: “Obviously, you are confident when you’re winning and right now we’re winning. We’re going good. It’s just so fragile. We talked about it this afternoon. ... It’s a fragile thing, confidence, and you just hope we can keep it going.”

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