If you’ve been following the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets franchise for as long as I’ve have–which is the better portion of my 18 years on this planet–you probably realized relatively early on that nothing comes easy for the Nets, and that, on most occasions, most things go horribly wrong.
Now, this is a trait that normally presents itself in the regular season, considering how many more games–and thus, chances to disappoint its fan base–the Nets play then as opposed to during the postseason. But, as C.J. Watson would tell you, the playoffs are a fine time for this team to lose in excruciating fashion.
Tonight, in Game 2 against the Hawks, the Nets did exactly that: fall in a very winnable game by exceedingly frustrating means. They lost 96-91 but had multiple chances to tie or take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but weren’t able to come through on any of them.
Like in Sunday’s Game 1, Atlanta controlled much of the game but, in this one, wasn’t able to build huge leads as often. Most of the night consisted of the Nets struggling to get their deficit under seven while on Sunday, they were trying to get it under 12 or so.
After Kyle Korver made two of three free throws after he was fouled by Alan Anderson while taking a three-pointer with 3:39 left in the game, the Nets went on a 6-0 spurt on the strength of threes from Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack. This put Brooklyn down 90-89–the Hawks were winning by 11 a few minutes earlier–and, following missed shots from Jeff Teague and DeMarre Carroll, in possession of the ball, with a chance to go ahead.
They actually got a solid shot off, a running layup from Joe, but it bounces harmlessly off the backboard and then the rim, only to be rebounded by Jeff Teague. Then, Carroll–off a major defensive breakdown by Deron Williams–got a wide open layup before a beautiful backdoor cut from Anderson, with a great feed from Deron, resulted in a layup that brought Brooklyn within one, 92-91.
On the other end, with 28 ticks to go, Johnson fouled Paul Millsap, who promptly split a pair of free throws. Now, the Nets–once again–had the ball with the chance to tie or take the lead. In this cases during the regular season, you’d expect an isolation with Joe or Brook or even Jarrett Jack. But, what shot did the Nets end up getting? A wide open corner 15-footer from Deron, who used a nice ball fake to free himself for a shot that most NBA players should be able to make in their sleep.
Instead, his attempt rolled out and the Hawks rebounded, make the requisite free throws and sealed a win. Another game, another disappointing finish for a Nets team that led this game with five minutes left in the third quarter. Regardless, none of their strong play from earlier in the game–against a much better team, admittedly–matters if they can’t come through with a victory. Tonight, they didn’t do that and are in a two-game hole.
Assorted thoughts: It’s easy to blame this loss on Deron, who missed that vital shot late and was horrid on offense all night (two points on 1-7 shooting). However, he did do some nice things on the floor with eight assists and 10 rebounds and only three turnovers (could go either way). Still, though, the Nets are paying D-Will to be an all-around point guard who can be relied on for scoring and for setting teammates up/running the offense. If he’s taking open shots and not making them, he’s simply not getting his job done, which makes winning so, so much harder for Brooklyn….Thaddeus Young also played really poorly, similarly missing six of his seven field goal attempts. The difference with Thad is that most of his shots were right at the rim and really should have gone down. Sure, there were some instances in which he was fouled and there was no call but in the NBA playoffs, you need to make all the easy shots you can get. The Nets just aren’t good enough to win when two starters combine for four points on 2-14 shooting….On the bright side, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez were much better, scoring a collective 39 points on 31 shots with 16 rebounds and one turnover between the two. Joe missed a bunch of open looks he wishes he could have back, but for the most part, was assertive on offense at going to the rim. For Brook, who took just seven shots last game, made more than half of his 15 attempts tonight and was a real burden to Atlanta’s defense. However, there were many offensive sets tonight during which the Nets didn’t have much going on yet they still wouldn’t feed Lopez in the post as often as they could have….Three-point shooting was a problem again for the Nets, as they made 31 percent (8-for-26) of their triples, which never is going to cut it for a postseason game on the road. Mirza Teletovic (0-for-2 from deep in his four minutes of play) was understandably rusty while Joe (3-for-8) made some but missed some much-needed ones. Jarrett Jack (23 points on 9-for-13 shooting overall, 2-for-5 from three) was probably the Nets’ best player and even knocked some threes in, even though he was a roughly 25 percent shooter from beyond the arc during the regular season. Bojan Bogdanovic, getting the start over Markel Brown who didn’t enter the game, was 2-for-6 from three and missed a bunch of clean looks as well. Finally, Anderson–still recovering from his ankle injury–made one of his two long balls and scored 12 points in general. He moves extremely well without the ball–note the backdoor cut from the fourth quarter–and is a solid defender who provides a three-point threat. He was big in this game but, unfortunately, a bunch of his teammates didn’t help in picking up the bill….Brooklyn’s defense was much improved tonight, but Atlanta still had five guys score in double figures, especially Paul Millsap (19 points, 4-for-4 from deep) and Kyle Korver (17 on 3-7 3FG), who hit dagger threes all night to keep the Hawks ahead, barely….With all that said, the biggest difference in this game might have been the turnover battle, which the Nets lost 16-8. Committing twice as many turnovers as your opponent–which scored 19 points off them–is never good as it’s a problem Brooklyn has had for the whole season which gets exacerbated against strong teams. It’s never smart to throw eight possessions away in a five-point game.
Onto the next one: Saturday night at Barclays. If the Nets aren’t going to win this series, a win or two at home would be nice.
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