Brooklyn Nets beat Charlotte 97-81 to hand the Bobcats their 17th straight defeat.
The top scorer Brook Lopez gave his interim coach P.J. Carlesimo a gift of a victory by scoring 26 points and 11 rebounds against Bobcats. His performance came one day after the Nets management fired Avery Johnson, who was the Eastern Conference coach of the month in November.
"It's hard to be confident when you're not enjoying success. So I think you have to play your way out of it, shoot your way out of it and I thought we did that tonight," the Associated Press quoted Carlesimo as saying.
For the Nets, Deron Williams added 19 points, while Joe Johnson had 16 points and four assists.
Hakim Warrick was the top scorer for the slumping Bobcats with 13 points and four assists. Ramon Sessions added 12 points, while Ben Gordon had 10 points.
"I think we have very talented players but they are capable of much more than what we have seen in the recent weeks," Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said. "I respect Avery and really I wish him well, but sometimes chemistry just isn't right. It happens."
Brook Lopez gave a glowing tribute to interim coach Carlesimo. "He helped us focus tonight," Lopez said. :He was there for us and you know we support him and he supports us."
Carlesimo was the Oklahoma City Thunder's coach before being fired after a dismal 1-12 start in the 2008-09 season.
"Your head's spinning a little bit, you're trying to think of all the things that were second nature," Carlesimo said. "Hopefully I haven't forgotten. I'm old, but hopefully I haven't forgotten."
The Nets outscored the Bobcats 33-15 in the first quarter, while both teams scored 23 apiece in the second.
Brooklyn, who entered the second half with an 18-point lead, again outscored the Bobcats 24-20 in the third quarter to take a huge 80-58 lead.
Charlotte fought back in the fourth quarter, but the 22-point lead proved too much for them. They outscored the Nets 23-17 in the last period to lose the game by 16 points.
The Nets out-rebounded the Bobcats 43-36 and shot nine three-pointers against the Bobcats' three in the game.
"It's tough. We can't put ourselves in that kind of position," Bobcats guard Kemba Walker said. "We don't have a lot of depth on our team to come back against great teams, but we do every once in a while, but we can't do that all the time. We dig ourselves in holes we can't get out of."
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