Nets win again with Deron Williams on the bench, what gives?

Here are three thoughts from the Nets' 123-111 win over the Pacers in Indianapolis Saturday night:

1. For the second straight game, Deron Williams found himself watching from the bench during the closing minutes.

But unlike in Friday's triple-overtime win over the Bucks – when Williams finished with four points and five assists in 22 minutes – he was arguably the best player on the court in the first half for the Nets, scoring 15 points in the first quarter alone and playing with as much confidence and swagger as he has in any game this season.

That's why it was surprising when after he was taken out of the game by Nets coach Lionel Hollins with 4:51 remaining in the third quarter, he never returned to the game again.

When asked about it postgame, Hollins said simply, "Because I did. It was just my choice as a coach … nothing personal, but I just thought the lineup was in there, I just chose to go that way."

That lineup, one led by Jarrett Jack at point guard, wound up playing well enough to win the game down the stretch, as the Nets turned out to be plus-15 over the final 16:51 with Jack on the court, and while Jack went just 1-for-5 from the field in the second half, he finished a plus-20 for the game (a rarity for anyone who has followed the Nets this season).

But whether you agreed with the decision to go with Jack or not, the bottom line is that the combination Hollins used wound up working for him and the Nets, giving them one of their biggest wins of the year (particularly when you combine it with their performance against the Bucks the night before in Brooklyn). If the Nets had lost, there would have been plenty of scrutiny of his decision to play Jack over Williams, and deservedly so. But because they got a win, it's hard to question his decision.

2. Over the past 48 hours, the Nets have had several chances to wilt. The Bucks made multiple plays that seemed like they had put the game away Friday night, only for the Nets to respond each time with a play or two of their own to either tie the game up or retake the lead before finally putting it away in triple overtime.

Saturday's game was the same way. The Nets had seemed to be in control for most of the first half, even taking a 12-point lead shortly before the break. But the Pacers stormed back into the lead early in the third quarter, and then each team took turns making runs throughout the rest of the third and into the early part of the fourth.

But in a change from how the Nets have fared most of this season, it seemed like every time the Pacers were poised to rip the game away from them, they had an answer – particularly from either Bojan Bogdanovic or Joe Johnson, both of whom were terrific in the fourth quarter (combining to make eight of nine shots and score 19 points).

The biggest reason the Nets are in the situation they're in with regards to the standings, more than anything else, is that they've struggled to take a punch from their opponents all season long. But over the last 48 hours, they've taken several haymakers and fired back with their own – a promising development moving forward.

3. When the Nets headed to Philadelphia for their game against the 76ers last Saturday, given where they were in the standings – in 11th place and fading fast following their five-game losing streak – it seemed like they had to go at least 5-2 in their next seven games (at Philadelphia, Minnesota and Cleveland; home against Milwaukee; at Indiana; home against Boston; at Charlotte) if they wanted to have any chance of pulling themselves back into the race and beginning to pass some of the teams ahead of them.

Well, now they are 4-1 through the first five games of that stretch, and have begun to become relevant again. Given they are already within a game of Boston in eighth, if the Nets can manage to beat the Celtics and Hornets, they will very likely at worst be in a tie for eighth by the middle of the week.

That will set them up with another stretch of their schedule – home against the Cavaliers, Lakers and Pacers and at the Knicks – that they'll have to go 3-1 in if they want to give themselves a real shot.

Why is that? Because their schedule in April is brutal: home for Toronto, at Atlanta, home for Portland, home for Atlanta, home for Washington, at Milwaukee, home for Chicago, home for Orlando.

Some of those games are winnable – Milwaukee and Orlando, in particular – but on paper it wouldn't be surprising if the Nets go 2-6 in that stretch. That's why they have to bank every winnable game they can get now, and then try to steal as many games against their tough April schedule as they can.