They always know how to draw you in, getting you to believe they are going to get a really good win against one of the league’s best teams. These Nets are incredibly gifted in getting big leads early in games only to forget how to make open shots the rest of the way en route to losses that give you stomach cramps for days and make you reconsider your basketball fandom.
Tonight, at Barclays, your Brooklyn Nets jumped out to a 35-21 lead at the end of the first quarter behind an incredible 18-point, six-rebound period from Brook Lopez, who scored just four (FOUR) more points in the remaining three quarters and additional overtime frame. But–remember, this is the Nets–the Mavericks would use a serious of runs in the second and third quarters to cut their deficit to six at halftime and to zero by the fourth quarter.
Through the first 4:34 of the final quarter, the score was 10-0 Mavericks. It took that long for the Nets to finally score on a pair of Jarrett Jack free throws. J.J. Barea immediately answered with a corner three–which Brooklyn was unable to guard all game long–to put Dallas up 11 and the Nets seemingly out of their misery.
But, to its credit, Lionel Hollins’ team didn’t give up an inch. Jack, Mason Plumlee and Joe Johnson realized how making two-point shots right at the hoop could potentially be a smarter strategy than settling for contested mid-range jumpers and three. This method got the deficit down to six. Then, Joe Jesus took over.
Up until this point, the Nets had made exactly one three-pointer the whole game. At the 2:36 mark, Johnson drilled a triple off a nice Jack assist to cut the score to 80-77. After Rajon Rondo–who entered the game shooting worse than 35 percent from the free throw line this season–missed a pair from the charity stripe, Joe knocked down an even longer and more contested three from around 30 feet away that tied the game and sent the home crowd into pandemonium.
He then swatted a Chandler Parsons jumper on the other end before Monta Ellis stole the ball from Jack and missed a jumper that could have given Dallas the lead. Jack immediately answered, drilling a mid-range two that granted Brooklyn its first lead in a long, long time. So close to a win, the Nets were then called for a questionable foul on Ellis, after a timeout, which gave him a chance to even the game up again, this time from the free throw line.
He hit both, so the Nets had the ball with 10.5 seconds and a possibility to steal a win. Who did you think they gave the ball to? Correct, Joe Johnson. He dribbled around for a little before taking a contested 20-footer that just rolled on the front rim and then off the backboard to end regulation and send the game to overtime.
Once in the extra frame, the Mavericks took over on a pair of early Ellis jumpers and never looked back. The Nets had no answer for Dallas and couldn’t grab a defensive rebound–thanks Tyson Chandler–to even give themselves a chance to get back in this one. Rough ending.
Assorted thoughts: The Nets, for having multiple players who are classified as “good” or “decent” three-point shooters, are an astonishingly bad shooting team, especially from behind the arc. They’ll have their good nights–such as the blowout win in Charlotte in December and most of the game against the Magic a few days ago–but most of them are really bad. Tonight, Brooklyn made just three of its 25 three-point attempts. That’s 12.0 percent, a mark easily eclipsed by plenty of high school teams, even on a bad night. Also, two of the made three were by Joe Johnson late in regulation as part of the Nets’ furious comeback that gave them a lead they would soon blow to force overtime. Really bad stuff….Rajon Rondo was 1-of-13 from the field (0-of-2 from free throw line) for two points. He also added 14 assists and 10 rebounds. Tyson Chandler put together a double-double consisting of a bunch of dunks and offensive rebounds. More devastatingly for the Nets, though, was that over-the-hill Charlie Villanueva and former Net Richard Jefferson combined for 18 bench points as they helped the Dallas second quarter effort. I love RJ but he should not be taking over a game at this point in his career….Mirza Teletovic: 2-of-8 from field, 0-of-4 from three. Alan Anderson: 1-of-6 from field, 1-of-5 from three. If either of those makes just one more of their wide open three-point attempts, we’re talking about a big Nets win for a .500 team. Now, it’s a brutal loss and two-games-under-.500 team. Brook and Jack both posted double-doubles and were the big catalysts for offense early on but Joe Johnson was the only consistent scorer late in the game. Also, Nets committed 15 turnovers as a team, multiple of which came on offensive charges. It’s the little mistakes that cost you in games like these….The Nets really missed Deron Williams in this one as Darius Morris–who seems like a nice dude, but doesn’t belong on a NBA team–played nine ineffective minutes. Even someone like Ish Smith of the Thunder would be more impactful for Brooklyn as Morris doesn’t provide any offensive threat. Defenses realize that and don’t have to commit legitimate effort to defend him, leaving more defenders for the rest of the team. At least if Deron were playing, the Mavs would have had to respect his jumper and his driving ability.
Onto the next one: Wednesday night at Barclays against the Celtics.
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