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| Avery Johnson hasn't done much right as of late. The Nets players should obviously be blamed for the team's recent struggles, but some of the responsibility should be saddled on the coach again |
I seriously need to stop caring about this team so much. The Nets let yet another game slip right out of their grasp tonight as they scored a putrid 33 second half points, following a script we have seen written by this team much too much already. Also, like so many other Nets games this year, tonight's matchup between Deron Williams and his former team came down to the final seconds as Reggie Evans (not very good tonight) missed a WIDE OPEN 10-footer off the glass as time expired after he rebounded a missed Gerald Wallace three (that would have won the game if it went in). The Jazz gave the Nets a bunch of opportunities to steal a possible win after committing two consecutive turnovers inside of one minute that allowed Brooklyn to come within four, then within two, and then within a few inches of bringing the game to overtime. The only thing is that the Nets didn't accept them/take advantage of them.
After a sort-of-even first quarter which ended up with the Nets leading by four (24-20), the hometown squad rode great mixed play from the reserves (missing Jerry Stackhouse and Josh Childress due to injury) to a 13-point lead, which is what they would bring into halftime, augmented by a Gerald Walllace three-pointer at the buzzer. Once again, the Nets came out of the gates with a lot of energy and looked to run away with this home game against a Jazz team that is awful on the road (4-10 coming in).
I'm not sure what happened during the intermission, but in the third quarter, it looked like the Nets were sucked out of every bit of desire and intensity they possessed in the prior half. Offensive awareness was gone, defensive rotations nonexistent, isolations in full force, and shot accuracy scarce. They looked like a shell of the team from the first half and were befuddled by the variety of players Utah was scoring with. Even with a three-pointer from Joe Johnson at the tail end of the quarter, the Nets only held a 74-70 advantage going into the fourth quarter, one that was clearly not big enough for them to hold onto for a win.
The final period of the game was just a war of attrition that the Nets lost because of their stunning inability to hit any form of shot whatsoever. The Jazz weren't much more efficient, but they managed to make a whole lot more stops than Brooklyn did. A lack of defensive rebounding also crushed the Nets in the fourth as Utah had five offensive boards in the final 12 minutes with a notable one coming at the 0:48 mark when Al Jefferson outworked the Nets for the ball and ended up taking 17 valuable ticks off the clock, seconds way too precious to let slip.
Some other observations I had from the game: The Nets may have cost themselves the game when they didn't foul (inexplicably) the Jazz after the Gordon Hayward rebounded a wild D-Will missed jumper with 1:08 left. Brooklyn let Mo Williams run all around the floor for 19 seconds until he missed a three-pointer, which was rebounded by the aformentioned Al Jefferson. Clock management and awareness is still not there for the Nets, something unacceptable for a supposed-contender…..Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap might be the most underrated power forward-center tandem in the league. They stretch the floor really well–helped by the Nets' bigs simply not getting out to contest them–are super tough, gets tons of rebounds, both offensive and defensive, and play stingy defense. Wish we could see more of that from the Nets….Avery put Kris Humphries back into the starting lineup after five straight games of Reggie Evans starting. Hump looked a lot better tonight, scoring eight points and grabbing 11 boards. Reggie nabbed seven rebounds but did miss the game-deciding shot so not the best night for him…..Joe Johnson had another solid game, scoring 21 points on 7-15 shooting. Missed a few open shots here and there but overall solid game….D-Will played okay but missed all three of his three-point attempts. If he's gonna take them, they gotta fall….Only 16 minutes from Andray Blatche. The Nets needed points in the fourth quarter so I have no clue why he wasn't in more often…..C.J. Watson was great yet again, hitting three of his four three-pointers and racked up a +10 in an unfathomable 14 minutes.
Looking Ahead
The Nets have a really quick turnaround, taking on the Knicks yet again tomorrow night, this time at Madison Square Garden.
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