The word that best captures the 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets is probably enigma, meaning they frankly don’t make any sense. Beat the Mavericks and Warriors, lose to the Jazz. Beat the Pacers and Bucks, lose to the Celtics by 19 points at home.
So, with a crucial game against the Hornets–deciding a game in the standings and the season series/tiebreaker between the two teams–tonight in Charlotte, you just didn’t know what Nets team was going to show up. Would it be the listless Nets who got blown out by the Hornets in Brooklyn three weeks ago or the energetic Nets who crushed Charlotte back in December?
For two quarters and change, it appeared to be the former. Other than Brook Lopez, no Net could seemingly get anything going on offense and the other side of the ball wasn’t much better. Like in the last meeting between these teams, Gerald Henderson and Al Jefferson were getting any wide open jumper they wanted, and they were able to knock them down.
Thusly, the Nets found themselves down 37-27 midway through the second quarter and this game looked like another Hornets romp. But then Alan Anderson knocked down his only three of the night to cut the Brooklyn deficit to seven, which started a slow Nets comeback to get within four points at halftime, 46-42.
The second half didn’t start very auspiciously for the road team, as the Hornets continued their hot shooting by making their first three field goals of the third quarter. Then, Charlotte went cold while the Nets started to perk up. Brooklyn fed the ball to Lopez–finally–almost every time down the floor and saw him nail floater after jumper after floater. Combined with Charlotte scoring just 12 points in the final 10:30 of the frame, the Nets was able to take a four-point lead into the fourth. Big eight-point turnaround.
It took the Hornets over five minutes to get their first fourth quarter field goal which allowed the Nets to take a 74-66 lead before five unanswered points from Henderson brought Steve Clifford’s team right back into the game. Joe Johnson–who was just 2-for-9 from the field–proceeded to swish a much-needed three but the Hornets responded right back with four straight points, to make this a two-point game.
Up 77-75 with just over four minutes left, the Nets decided–smartly–to let Brook do his thing for a few possessions. Problem is that Al Jefferson did the same, so the two exchanged buckets and free throws for a few minutes. Deron Williams broke up this monotony with a beautiful dish to a cutting Alan Anderson for a dunk that gave Brooklyn another two-point lead that would quickly be erased with another Henderson jumper.
Brook then got fouled by Jefferson and knocked down his free throws. Nets up 85-83. Al Jefferson hits a layup. Tied at 85. Brook hits a jumper off a D-Will pass. Nets up 87-85. That second hoop would end up doing the trick, as Kemba Walker–with just 17 seconds left–drove to the hoop, possibly getting fouled, only to miss a layup that would be rebounded by the Nets.
Deron would get fouled and make his free throws before a stupid Jarrett Jack foul of Walker, who ended up splitting a pair of free throws. D-Will would hit two more and Kemba got a layup on the other end, putting Brooklyn up three with a few seconds left.
But, it’s never easy for the Nets, so of course Brook Lopez would turn over the ensuing inbounds, giving Charlotte a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime. Thankfully, the Hornets threw the ball away right back, allowing for a huge 91-88 Nets win. Brooklyn is now 30-40–just like the Hornets–and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. Important swing of events.
Assorted thoughts: Brook. Lopez. The Nets’ center was absolutely dominant on offense tonight and was Brooklyn’s only truly reliable scorer in this one. He put up 34 points on 16-of-26 shooting and also grabbed 10 rebounds to go with three big blocked shots. He had a tough matchup–with Al Jefferson, who scored 23 and also collected 10 boards–and wasn’t incredible on defense, but whenever the poor-shooting Nets needed a hoop, he was able to come through. For how maligned his inconsistent play was in the beginning of the season, Brook has responded in a big way lately, scoring 31 or more points in three of the last four games and averaging 18.9 points and 8.7 rebounds on 54 percent shooting in the month of March. That’s dominant stuff….Once again, Deron Williams wasn’t able to shoot well from the field but left an indelible impact on the game with his 14 assists and seven rebounds. If he can’t put points on the board, he needs to be a strong play-maker on offense in terms of getting teammates open shots. Tonight, he did that incredibly well, mostly finding Brook in strong scoring position….Brooklyn made just three of its 14 three-point attempts in this one, meaning this win was just the Nets’ third this season when converting less than 25 percent of their long-range tries. Obviously, the continued inability to make threes is a bad trend but it was nice to see the Nets persevere and win even without any perimeter scoring….Thaddeus Young went down with a scary knee injury in the third quarter and was taken to the locker room after struggling to get off the floor. He was diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee and when X-rays were taken, they came back negative. Hate to see him get hurt but all indications are that he’s going to be fine….Lance Stephenson, a Brooklyn native and someone who the Nets were rumored to be getting back in a possible Brook Lopez trade a few months ago, was 1-for-8 from the field in his 14 minutes, and looked horrible. Pretty happy the Nets ended up hanging onto Brook.
Onto the next one: Home against the Cavaliers on Friday night at Barclays. Don’t expect any miracles.
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