With how badly the Nets have played since beating the Mavericks and Warriors a few weeks ago, any sort of win has been desperately needed. Tonight, Brooklyn got that by narrowly edging the awful Philadelphia 76ers, snapping the Nets’ five-game losing skid and bringing them to within three games of the No. 8 spot in the East.
The Nets actually started this game with some urgency, which has been noticeably lacking with them throughout this recent skid. Brooklyn raced out to a 18-9 lead behind a lot of free throw shooting, thanks to a mixture of strong interior play and favorable officiating. However, the 76ers ended the quarter on a 20-8 run and took a 29-26 lead on a Robert Covington triple with a second left. The strong start by Brooklyn ended up being completely negated.
The second quarter wasn’t much better for the Nets, as the Philly second unit outplayed Brooklyn’s for much of the period. Still, the road team was able to maintain a few-possession lead for a few minutes before a late 76ers’ flurry snagged the lead right back and was punctuated with a half-ending, buzzer-beating Ish Smith prayer that got answered for three points.
Philly took a 56-51 advantage into the half and it just felt like another Nets game against a weak opponent in which the needed stops and shots wouldn’t be made in order to get the win.
Then, thanks to a blend of the 76ers being the 76ers and the Nets locking down on defense and the glass, Brooklyn held Philly to 10 third quarter points en route to regaining the lead and bringing it back to a comfortable eight points. The Nets went back to what was working in the first quarter–attacking the hoop–and started to control the pace of the game as offense came easier.
Philadelphia’s scoring slump continued to around the midway points of the fourth quarter, after a Jerami Grant–who played at Syracuse in college–three gave the 76ers 20 total second half points. Brooklyn was up five, 81-76, but saw the lead trimmed to two after a bunch of quick points were scored by Hollis Thompson and Nerlens Noel, who outplayed Brook Lopez tonight.
Here was a critical juncture for the Nets. At this point in the Suns game, they were well on their way to a devastating blown lead in a needed game. Tonight, though, Deron Williams immediately responded with a big jumper that more or less sealed the win for the Nets, only their second in the month of March. About time D-Will stepped up in the clutch.
Assorted thoughts: The three-point shooting was horrendous again for the Nets, as well as for the 76ers. Brooklyn went just 2-of-17 from deep (good for 11.8 percent) even though the porous Philadelphia defense left a lot of longballs wide open for the taking. Thankfully for the Nets, the 76ers didn’t convert on their opportunities from three either, making just eight of 37 attempts on a brutal 21.6 percent clip. Alan Anderson was 1-6 and Jarrett Jack–who is a sub-26 percent three-point shooter this season–took three triples for some reason and missed all of them. Most of those attempts were definitely not of the fully contested variety….Thaddeus Young returned to the arena he played in for much of his career and where he started it and certainly didn’t disappoint. He scored a game-high 21 points with nine rebounds in a game-high 35 minutes. He was relentless on defensive, both in guarding his man and on the glass, and also made a ton of huge shots late in the game to salt it away. It’s clear his go-to shot is the high-arching floater from five feet, preferably after a spin move of sorts. I don’t have the specific stats on it, but it’s a shot that doesn’t miss too often….Joe Johnson added 15 points and four rebounds, a good sign for him since he has been ice-cold during the losing streak. He didn’t take a ton of jumpers, instead focusing on using his size to get good position in the paint for his patented floaters and leaners in the lane. Those shots are by far his most efficient and when he gets going by making those, his jumpers seem to fall more. Maybe this performance gets him going for the next few games….Thomas Robinson, whom the Nets would have signed a few weeks ago after his release from the Nuggets had the 76ers not claimed him off waivers first, grabbed 12 rebounds in 17 minutes. He was a huge energy boost off the bench for Brett Brown and gave Thad Young a lot of trouble on the boards. Have a feeling the Nets are still mad about not getting him.
Onto the next one: Monday night in Minnesota against former Net Kevin Garnett and the Timberwolves
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
