In one of their most complete performances of the entire season, the Brooklyn Nets dominated the really good Chicago Bulls for the final three quarters en route to an easy, blowout victory. The win is only the Nets’ second of the season against a team with a winning record (2-13).
In the two earlier meetings between these teams this year, Chicago destroyed the Nets both times, winning by margins of 18 in Brooklyn and 25 at the United Center respectively. Tonight was completely the opposite, and instead the Nets did the routing.
In the first quarter, though, it appeared as if this game was going to be another one in which the Nets would just be rolled over by one of the East’s better squads. Mike Dunleavy poured in 12 first quarter points as his Bulls leaped out to a seven-point advantage at the first break. Brooklyn’s offense was solid but its defense was not.
That completely changed in the second quarter, as the Nets–possibly sparked by a first quarter Lionel Hollins technical–could suddenly do no wrong and hit nearly every shot they took. Also, the Bulls happened to go cold from the field due both to some unluckiness as well as very active Brooklyn defense. Outside of Dunleavy (23 points on 9-15 shooting) and maybe Joakim Noah (12 and 12), no one on the Bulls was able to get much going on offense.
Combine all of those factors and you a quarter won by the Nets to the tune of 31-14. Brooklyn took a 55-45 lead into halftime and outside of an iffy start to the third quarter in which the advantage fell to four points. But the Nets kept getting big baskets–mostly from Jarrett Jack (11 points and five assists) and Brook Lopez (29 points), who surpassed a season-high in scoring–when they needed them and were able to hold off the pesky Bulls.
As the fourth quarter rolled around, and the Nets were up by 15 points, Chicago started to really fade away and were stuck on just two points in the frame for over seven minutes. When the Bulls finally started to put some biscuits in the basket, there wasn’t nearly enough time for them to build a formidable comeback attempt. A well-deserved and hugely important win for a Nets team starting to feel confident about itself.
Assorted thoughts: Brook Lopez returned to the starting lineup as Kevin Garnett sat out the second half of a back-to-back and the embattled Nets’ center certainly didn’t disappoint. He was unstoppable in the lane as well as from 20 feet away from the basket, making Joakim Noah’s job defending him nearly impossible. It was vintage Brook at his best, even including the lack of rebounding prowess. His array of hook shots, layups, floaters and jumpers continued to confound a normally stout defensive team in the Bulls and the Nets couldn’t been happier. Brook’s back….Joe Johnson also stepped up big time in this one, scoring 20 points (on 8-14 shooting) to go with 11 rebounds in his first points-rebound double-double in a very long time. When Tony Snell subbed in for Chicago and was tasked with guarding Joe, the Nets got the ball to their swingman nearly every possession and each touch resulted in either an easy basket or a foul call and subsequent free throws. I tweeted about this during the game but the Nets did an incredible job of exploiting matchup advantage tonight and it clearly showed….Aaron Brooks, the Bulls’ backup point guard, was ejected in the second quarter for arguing calls with the officials and his disqualification really hamstrung what Chicago could do. With Kirk Hinrich (hamstring) out, reserve E’Twaun Moore was pressed into action and he didn’t do much. This turn of events really helped out the Nets as the Bulls got basically nothing from their bench backcourt and with Derrick Rose/Jimmy Butler being incredibly ineffective (5-27 shooting combined for 12 points), their starting backcourt didn’t do much either….Alan Anderson was also huge in this one, scoring 11 points on three three-pointers with four rebounds and three assists. His shot has been on point recently and he hit some open triples that helped Brooklyn extend its lead with ease. AA has been getting the job done….Deron Williams couldn’t get his shot to fall (1-8 from the field) but was effective in leading the offense off the bench with four assists. He also helped out on the glass (six boards) and even compiled three steals as part of the Brooklyn defensive effort. It’s clear he’s not 100 percent just yet so when he finally gets his legs under him, that shot is going to get back on track….The Nets have now won five of their last six games. Things are definitely looking up.
Onto the next one: The Nets are next in action on Friday night in Orlando against the Magic as Brooklyn looks to get back to .500.
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