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| Deron Williams, in Monday’s win. He looked to distribute, instead of focusing on scoring for the Nets, which worked out pretty well. |
Hey Brooklyn, ask and you shall receive. You wanted a winning NBA team, and for at least just Monday night, that’s what you got. The Nets, wearing their slick road black jerseys, opened up their new home with a well-played win over the short-handed Wizards at the Barclays Center. After a sluggish 1st quarter, one in which they were losing after 12 minutes of game action, the Nets picked up the intensity and effort, clinging on to a two point lead by halftime. The 2nd half of action was much better for Brooklyn as they started to hit more shots, played better defense, and started to attack the rim more effectively.
First off, before getting into the game, let’s talk about the Barclays Center during its first night of operation for an actual NBA game. The crowd wasn’t as large as I thought it would be, as there were plenty of empty, jet-black seats. However, the people that were there, myself included, managed to make a lot of noise throughout with chants and cheering, something that gave the Nets a tangible home-court advantage throughout. A thing that has been lacking in New Jersey, with the majority of the fans at the game caring little about the on-court action. It’s clear that’s different in Brooklyn.
The crowd rose and fell with how the Nets were doing at that point in the game; cheering and chanting when they had momentum after one of Andray Blatche’s monstrous jams and quietly enervating when a young Wizards team jumped out to a quick run in the 3rd quarter, cutting the Nets’ lead to 1. Then, after the Nets barely clung onto a miniscule lead from that point in the 3rd into the 4th, the intensity and urgency of the Nets picked up, mirroring that of the crowd, especially those in the upper reaches of the Barclays. That lead was all for naught with 9 minutes left in the final quarter, as a Jordan Crawford jumper put Washington up by 1.
A Blatche put-back returned the lead for the Nets with 7:39 left to go, and this was a lead they would finally hold on throughout the remainder of the hard-fought contest. As the final ticks of the 4th quarter evaporated, with the Nets holding a comfortable advantage over Randy Wittman’s Wizards. the Barclays crowd rose to their feet and started applauding the culmination of a 55-year journey. This journey began in 1957, when the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers left Kings County for the sunny mountains of Los Angeles. This sudden departure left the loyal population of Brooklyn without a major sports team in the borough, creating a major void in a still sports-crazed part of the biggest city in the United States. A void that the Brooklyn Nets gladly stepped in to fill and to fill as a winning team, with the final condition starting its fulfillment on Monday against the Wizards.
Overall, the Nets looked very, very good against an admittedly shorthanded Washington team without many of its better players and one that had to start journeyman point guard Jannero Pargo instead of the talented and young John Wall.
The two Nets that looked the best in the game were probably Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche. Lopez showed an interior presence, including offense, defense, AND rebounding (had 11 boards), that hasn’t been present in years. He consistently outworked the Wizards defense with his array of hook shots, post-up moves, and even an offensive put-back here or there. Blatche, who was fittingly amnestied by the Wizards this summer and subsequently signed by the Nets, played a huge role in the Nets win as he was extremely active on both offense and defense, slamming down fast-break dunks at one end and blocking shots and clearing the boards at the other end of the floor. C.J. Watson was another Net that played very well in his time on the court. The stat-line doesn’t really show it, but he was a great catalyst for the Nets in starting fastbreaks by causing turnovers and quickly getting the ball up the floor.
Other observations I had from the game: Keith Bogans played really well in his 5 minutes of play, draining two huge three-pointers that swung the momentum of the game right back into the Nets’ favor…….Mirza Teletovic was unimpressive in the first game I’ve ever seen him play. He did hit one three-pointer, but that’s all he does on the floor. He didn’t move well at all on defense and didn’t seem interested in the offense outside of shooting threes…….For the Wizards, Emeka Okafor played very well and the Nets, even Brook Lopez, had no way of stopping him. They need to do a much better job of interior defense in the future, especially with players of more offensive acumen than Okafor…….The Wizards guards impressed me with their instant offensive ability, specifically rookie Bradley Beal and Jordan Crawford. Both shooting guards had deadly jump-shots tonight and proved to very hard for the Nets to guard due to their quickness. However, without much of a point guard (without John Wall), they couldn’t get the ball in a shooting position that much, limited their production…….On a final note, A.J. Price and Deron Williams got into a little scuffle with around one minute remaining in the 4th quarter after Price fouled D-Will hard as he was going up for a shot. Both players were assessed double-technicals, having little effect on the game’s outcome. However, the loved the show of emotion and intensity from the normally-stonefaced Deron, which was something that further riled up an already excited crowd.
Looking Ahead
The Nets are back at it on Tuesday night in Boston against the Celtics.
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