After missing good opportunities in Games 1 and 2 to steal a win in Atlanta, the Nets knew they had to have Game 3 at home in order to avoid going down 3-0 in their series. This afternoon at Barclays, Brooklyn did exactly that with a convincing 91-83 win.
The Nets, who got out to very slow starts in the first two games, did the opposite today, pouring first quarter threes in left and right as they shut down Atlanta for the opening 12 minutes. They even used one of their best offensive sequences of the season at the end of the frame to grab a 31-16 lead.
Atlanta would respond quickly in the second quarter, though, as Brooklyn went cold. The Hawks got within five at one point using an extended 22-12 run but were unable to cut their deficit any more before halftime, at which they were losing 47-40 following a tough Alan Anderson jumper.
The strong play continued into the third quarter, as the No. 1 seed slowly chipped away for eight minutes before grabbing its first lead since this game was just 42 seconds old. Paul Millsap hit a layup to push the Hawks ahead 60-58 and Pero Antic followed a few seconds later with a pair of three throws.
Then, the Nets rolled off one of their biggest runs of the season, if not the biggest, to take control of this game and ensure themselves of an important Game 3 win.
Brooklyn, bridging the third and fourth quarters, scored the game’s next 18 points to build a 14-point advantage (76-62) that would buoy them for the rest of the afternoon. Thaddeus Young, with an array of creative layups, started the run with six points of his own and his teammates took it from there. The Hawks nibbled away at it for the remaining 8:52 but every punch they made was absorbed by the Nets and equaled with one of Brooklyn’s own. It got iffy for a little bit–with the infamous C.J. Watson miss surely on the Nets’ minds–but, in the end, was a pretty smooth finish.
Assorted thoughts: Overall, the stats for both teams don’t look too pretty, as both Brooklyn and Atlanta shot under 39 percent from the field, 32 percent from three and committed 15+ turnovers. The difference is that the Nets went 20-25 at the free throw line compared to Atlanta’s 13-17 mark at the charity stripe. After about 10 quarters of reckless jumpshots this series, in the second half, the Nets realized how important it is to establish a presence down low. The Hawks had 20 more paint points than Brooklyn but the Nets dominated it late….Speaking of paint points, Brooklyn rode Brook Lopez (22 points and 13 rebounds) and Thad Young (18 and 11) during its 18-0 spurt as they took advantage of the undersized Atlanta frontcourt. Add in Joe Johnson’s 16 and 10, and you get a nice group of guys who have the ability to hurt you from the perimeter but are significantly more efficient the closer they are to the hoop….Brooklyn’s three-point shooting was bad again, but Bojan Bogdanovic was not, to say the least. The rookie scored 19 points on 7-13 shooting (3-7 from three) and was assertive all game, even throwing down a dunk off a nice pump fake. Jarrett Jack (eight assists and five rebounds) and Alan Anderson (eight points) gave some nice minutes off the bench but, today, it was Brooklyn’s starters who led the way….For the third-straight game, Deron Williams was brutal as he missed seven of his eight shots and was benched for the game’s last 16 minutes in lieu of Jack, who did well in leading the offense. Now might be the time for Lionel Hollins to bench his max point guard who has been absolutely brutal in this series….Brooklyn did a solid job overall on defense, but was especially sharp in denying Kyle Korver the ball, as Atlanta’s sharpshooter missed all five of his threes and scored two points. Anderson, Bogdanovic and a combo of others didn’t let Korver have any room to breathe off the ball, and when he did get passes, he was forced to take off-balanced, ill-advised attempts. That is a clear representation of a strong defensive gameplan.
Onto the next one: Game 4 is Monday night at Barclays and Nets have a chance to tie up the series at two games apiece.
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