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| It took another Joe Johnson buzzer-beater in double overtime for the Nets to finish off the Wizards last night in DC |
When: 7:30 pm; Saturday, January 5th, 2013
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network
The Nets are on a two-game winning streak right now, coming on wins against teams at literally the opposite ends of the NBA spectrum. Wednesday night's triumph was against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team holding the best record in the NBA at the moment. Then, last night came another road victory, however this one was of the double overtime variety against the lowly Washington Wizards who, at 4-27, hold the worst record in the NBA right now. Surprisingly, it took an extra 10 minutes for the inconsistent Nets to beat the Wiz than the Thunder but the wins count the same in the record, so coach P.J. Carlesimo and his team will take then anyday.
But tonight brings yet another game for Brooklyn, as they head back home to New York City and the Barclays Center to hopefully continue their winning streak against the talented but lowly Kings. Sacramento, led by DeMarcus Cousins and the currently-injured Tyreke Evans, has a ton of solid scoring options on its team but not many dependable defensive ones, which is a fact that is partly to blame for its uneven 13-20 record. However, the Kings have been playing pretty good basketball as of late, winning four out of their last five games, a stretch that started eight days ago with a shocking, buzzer-beating win over the Knicks and most recently continued with a win over the Toronto Raptors in Canada last night.
James Johnson, a reserve forward who hit his first three-pointer of the season that Friday night, is responsible for that stunning last-second game-winner, a shot that sent the home-town Kings fans into a frenzy and the visiting Knicks into a state of stupor. That game serves as a kind of microchasm for the Kings as a franchise and for how they have played this season. Extremely great highs (like the Knicks win and wins over Golden State and the Lakers) balanced with awful lows (like a recent loss to the Pistons) have been characteristic of the 2012-13 Kings season and show its talent and its youth simultaneously.
Probable Lineups
SAC- Thomas (PG), Garcia (SG), Salmons (SF), Thompson (PF), Cousins (C)
NETS- D-Will (PG), Joe Johnson (SG), Wallace (SF), Humphries (PF), Lopez (C)
Final Thoughts
The Nets are sure to be tired from their long win over the Wizards in our Nation's Capital last night, but that's no excuse to fall to a bad, bad team like the Kings. Must-win? Must-win.
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