I was in class for the entirety of regulation so I was only able to watch overtime. Yep, the Nets took the Spurs to overtime tonight. And, even more shockingly, the Nets led a big chunk of this game. But most stunning of all, Brooklyn actually won.
The Spurs were up by just two points after a pretty even first half but went cold from the floor in the third quarter while the Nets stormed forward. Brooklyn outscored San Antonio 28-16 in the frame and took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter.
That advantage would be as much as 14 points with a little over seven minutes to go. But, this is the Nets, so the Spurs went on a regulation-ending 24-10 run to force overtime. A Brook Lopez banked jumper with 18 seconds left gave Brooklyn a three-point lead but Danny Green would go on to hit a game-tying three some possessions later to send this one into an extra period.
The overtime period was all Nets. Deron Williams set the tone with an early three and the Spurs didn’t hit a shot until a Danny Green three at the 1:38 mark. But neither team would score after that and it’s a good thing Joe Johnson hit a contested floater right before, giving the Nets a 95-90 lead before Green’s shot. Brooklyn finally was able to make key stops down the stretch en route to an enormous victory.
Some other observations I had from the game: Kevin Garnett, after a good rebounding effort last night against the Knicks, sat this out, presumably for rest purposes…Mirza Teletovic, who replaced KG in the starting lineup, had by far his best game of the season and one of the best of his career, along with his three-point barrage of the Mavericks last season. MT3 lived up to his nickname, scoring 26 points on 13 shots (5-7 from three). Also, and more surprisingly, he grabbed 15 boards, which was tied for a team-high along with–guess who–Brook Lopez. Speaking of Brook, he was huge on defense for the Nets on the interior. He made life hard for Tim Duncan down low and contributed to him going 5-for-18 from the field. Oh, and Brook added 16 points to boot and didn’t commit a turnover…Joe Johnson and Deron Williams didn’t shoot well overall (combined to go 10-for-31 on field goals) but both hit key shots in the overtime period that were important for the Nets win. Deron added nine assists as well. Maybe the best aspect of their games tonight: just three turnovers between them…Bojan Bogdanovic was pretty good on offense at MSG but kicked it up a notch at Barclays in this one. He made half his 10 shots (two from beyond the arc) for 14 points and even grabbed eight boards. He also posted the Nets’ best +/- rating of +16. His job is to make the open shots he gets, especially from three-point range. When the Nets needed it the most, he did exactly that…Brooklyn didn’t get much from the bench but didn’t really need it. Can’t always have it all…Long Island native Danny Green was the main reason this game didn’t end after regulation. True to the Nets’ nature, the perimeter was open for San Antonio and Green took advantage, scoring 20 points on six triples. He made the Spurs’ only field goal in overtime.
Looking Ahead
The Nets will look to extend their two-game winning streak on Friday at Barclays against the Atlanta Hawks.
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