Three days after losing a game to the Golden State Warriors that, 99 times out of 100, they would have won, the Brooklyn Nets found themselves in a similar situation on Tuesday night in Brooklyn. Instead of folding like they did in Oakland, though, Brooklyn got a big defensive stop from Brook Lopez and then a pair of free throws from Thaddeus Young to give them the 90-88 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
For around 44 minutes tonight, the Nets were able to hang around with the Hawks but could never really push through and grab a convincing lead as they looked for their first home win of the season. But, just a couple of possessions after holding a six-point, 76-70 lead, Brooklyn’s offense went completely stagnant as the undermanned Hawks were up 82-79 with the chance to seal away another win.
When Thabo Sefalosha blocked a Joe Johnson leaner attempt with four minutes left in the game, it gave Atlanta an opportunity to put the Nets away. However, Sefalosha missed an open three and Al Horford, who rebounded his miss, lost the ball to Wayne Ellington which led to a Thaddeus Young putback off a Lopez miss. That brought Brooklyn to within 82-81 with 3:18 to play.
Then, the Hawks went extremely cold and the Nets took advantage, getting the lead right back on a Joe Johnson jumper and extending it on a Lopez free throw with just under two minutes left. But, when Horford made another wide open top-of-the-key 20-footer, Atlanta regained the lead and went up 88-86 with 40 ticks to go. Jarrett Jack immediately tied it up with an 18-footer — he scored 15 points on 10 shots — before Atlanta called a full timeout.
Dennis Schroder, starting instead of the injured Jeff Teague, missed a short floater after the timeout and the rebound was corralled by Paul Millsap, who was stuffed by Lopez. Thad picked up the loose ball and ran it down the floor, looking for the game-winning layup, but was fouled hard by Kyle Korver and landed on his arm.
When he was able to get to his feet, he calmly knocked down both free throws and, when the Hawks inbounded the ball looking to tie the score after another timeout, was able to break up the pass to seal a victory for the Nets. It was the fourth-straight good effort from the Nets, who lost games to the Kings and Warriors — each of which they led by double digits at one point —
Some other thoughts I had from the game: Sure, the Nets were helped by the Hawks not having both Teague and Kent Bazemore due to ankle sprains, but they played pretty well against a playoff team for almost a full 48 minutes. The perimeter defense, especially on shooters like Horford (18 points), Millsap (17 points) even Shelvin Mack, left a lot to be desired but the defense closer to the rim was pretty tough….A major reason Brooklyn won this game was because of the turnover battle, which the Nets won 20-12. This led to eight more field goal attempts for the Nets, which they needed because of their lackluster shooting performance for much of the night….You can’t say enough good things about Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young, who each posted double-doubles and led the Nets in scoring. Brook was dominant all night in the post — and actually got the ball late in the game for once — and played solid defense, not just the game-saving play, at the rim. His rebounding also looks much improved from last year. Thad struggled offensively early on but got his act together and matched up relatively well with Horford as well as Millsap when he was stuck on them. He also had five steals, which is about as many as a power forward could possibly get in a NBA game. The Nets need those guys to play well if they’re going to win, and they did….Also, Brooklyn’s pair of point guards, Jarrett Jack and Shane Larkin, came through in big ways. In the first half, with the offense a little sluggish, each made a bunch of threes to keep Brooklyn from getting blown out — the Hawks were up by 10 in the second quarter. They combined to shoot 10-of-21 from the field (7-of-12 from three) for 28 points. Jack compiled eight assists — he certainly built off his strong effort against Golden State — and committed just two turnovers. Larkin, the only bench player to score more than two points, knew he had to help put points on the board and was ready to shoot from the get-go, and the Nets needed him to….Joe Johnson still didn’t shoot that well, but was able to nearly post a triple-double (13 points, seven rebounds and nine assists) without turnovers, again. As his shooting has declined, it seems that his passing vision has gotten even better, which, when combined with his size, makes him a phenomenal passer. Also, RHJ played well again, and showed that he has offensive skills, even if they are unrefined….The Nets might only be 2-9, but they are undoubtedly a better team than they were a week or so ago. They could, and probably should, have won each of their last four games, even though only two count as wins in the standings. This roster is definitely starting to gel and as the schedule eases up, that should result in more wins.
Onto the next one: Tomorrow night in Charlotte against the Hornets.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
