It appears that whenever the Brooklyn Nets are ailing and in dire need of a win, they should play the Houston Rockets to turn their fortunes around.
With a 110-105 home win over the embattled Rockets on Tuesday at the Barclays Center, the Nets snapped a two-game losing skid and also swept the season series with Houston, which was the team they beat for their first win of the season.
Brooklyn came out of the gates with purpose tonight, making a point to get Brook Lopez (24 points, eight rebounds, five blocks) the ball early and often against the Rockets’ frontcourt. Lopez outplayed Dwight Howard badly for most of the game on both ends of the floor. All five Nets starters scored in double figures and made at least 50 percent of their shots.
For once, the Nets’ outside shots actually fell, as Brooklyn got a big 19 points (with three triples) from Bojan Bogdanovic, who was starting for the injured Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. They led 31-24 after the first quarter and only increased the lead in the second quarter, as the reserves continued from right where the starters left off. But, with each starter playing 34 or more minutes — Andrea Bargnani and Sergey Karasev were both out with injuries — Lionel Hollins mostly rode his best players.
Brooklyn led by as much as 13 in the second quarter and was up 57-46 at the half. But, the Rockets, behind former Net Marcus Thornton (32 points off the bench) and Corey Brewer (22 points), who combined to knock down nine threes, kept coming back and were able to cut a 18-point third quarter Nets lead to eight by end of the frame.
Thornton really heated up down the stretch as James Harden, surprisingly, was on the bench for awhile and wasn’t able to get much going when he actually was in the game. The LSU product scored 17 straight Houston points over a five-minute span as the Rockets cut their deficit down from 10 points to two, before it went back up to four, 93-89, with over six minutes to play.
Then, a Joe Johnson jumper gave the Nets some breathing room for a few minutes. However, when Patrick Beverley drilled a corner triple at the 1:17 mark, it put Houston within a single possession as Brooklyn led 105-102. Joe, acting as the Joe Johnson of his earlier Nets days, responded right back with a floater plus a free throw to end the Houston comeback attempt. Brooklyn, for maybe the first or second time all season, really rode Joe late in the game to get big baskets, and he did just that. If only for one night, Joe Jesus woke up from a long slumber.
There was some worry with less than a minute to go because of a Houston steal, down four, that could have cut the lead to two. But, James Harden split a pair of free throws and the Nets corralled the ensuing rebound on a Bogdanovic miss to seal away the win.
Some other observations I had from the game: Gonna keep it short, but, first off, sweeping a season series from this Rockets team is nothing to scoff at. Sure, Houston has had its issues this season — Kevin McHale was fired as coach soon after the Nets beat them — but it’s a talented bunch and a solid Western Conference foe. Maybe the Nets — who have won five of their last six home games, with the only loss being the Warriors defeat two nights ago — can be an average to above-average team at Barclays this year. Obviously, if they continue their extreme road troubles, that won’t mean much, but it tells opposing teams that Brooklyn is much better than its record indicates….It’s troubling that the Nets almost blew another double-digit lead — this one of 18 points — but their ability to keep it together down the stretch is a good sign….Thaddeus Young, who may be one of the NBA’s most underrated players right now, posted another ho-hum double-double (20 points on 10-13 shooting and 12 rebounds) was huge again tonight. His defense on Terrence Jones and Clint Capela was vital and limited a lot of Houston points….This may have been Joe’s best game of the year. Eight assists (with just two turnovers) underlie his 22-point scoring outburst, which was efficient and just what the Nets needed down the stretch. He took, and made, a bunch of threes and was confident in taking the ball right at defenders to get clean floaters in the lane. His size is a big advantage at the shooting guard position, and when he uses it properly, it’s unstoppable….Both the Nets and Rockets committed 24 turnovers, which is absurd for a NBA game but certainly helped Brooklyn. The frenetic pace of play favored the Nets, surprisingly, as the Rockets were unable to get out in transition as much as Brooklyn. Thomas Robinson had a huge dunk over Capela on the fastbreak and there were countless other easy Nets’ hoops off Rockets’ mistakes….Markel Brown didn’t play at all until the middle of the fourth quarter, when Hollins put him in for some energy, and he came through. Brown, as always, was active on defense but also drilled a big three (and missed another), showing how he clearly has much more confidence in his shot than he did earlier in the season. Any points from him would be a huge boost.
Onto the next one: It’s Hanukah, so that means Thursday’s home game against the 76ers is Jewish Heritage Night at Barclays. Fair to say, it’s a game the Nets need to win.
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