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| Melo killed the Nets tonight, he took advantage of the non-existent Brooklyn perimeter defense |
Unfortunately, I have to keep tonight's recap short because I had to take care of some things for school. If you watched the game though, you would have seen another thrilling contest between the Nets and the Knicks at Barclays Center, yet one that ended with a few questionable officiating calls, coaching moves by Avery Johnson, and shot selection and defense by the Nets. Brooklyn got off to a great start early on, racing out to a 26-9 lead that was gone nearly as fast as it came. The Knicks controlled the second quarter after the Nets had the first, resulting in a four-point Nets lead at halftime.
Then, the second half got crazy, as it did last time these teams played each other. The Knicks and Nets basically exchanged baskets for most of the third quarter but when the Knicks really took hold of the game and the lead was in the fourth. As it has many others times this season late in games, the Nets' offense grew very conservative and isolations were replacing much of the sound ball movement used to take the lead in the first place. Compounded with Jason Kidd and Carmelo Anthony's ridiculous shooting from behind the arc–in addition to an incorrect goaltending call against the Nets and some iffy foul calls–the Knicks seized the advantage with a Melo lay-in and never looked back.
Some other observations I had from the game: Horrendous officiating. I truly hate to say that this game was determined by the refs making seemingly incorrect and absurdly late calls, but it looks like they may have. From the questionable offensive interference call on Blatche to the should-be offensive foul Jason Kidd committed on the game-winning shot, the officials simply didn't have control of the game. I'm surprised we didn't see another Rondo and Humphries-like incident tonight with all the chippy play going on…..The Nets miss Brook Lopez badly. 1-5 since he went down with that foot injury. 'Nuff said…..REGGIE EVANS. Had 18 (!!) rebounds in 33 minutes, more than doubling up Tyson Chandler's rebound total (7). Reggie is ridiculous; although coming in a loss, those rebounds were huge for the Nets…..Brooklyn was 4-18 from behind the arc, compared to Manhattan's (okay, New York's) 14-28 mark from three. Just too low of a percentage for a Nets team with its talent to be shooting…..Andray Blatche scored 23 points. Not sure how or why, but it looks like no team in the NBA has figured out to stop him…..D-Will had a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists. Had some of the nicest no-look passes I've ever seen…..For some reason beyond my realm of comprehension, Keith Bogans didn't step on the floor tonight. Last game against the Knicks, he shut down J.R. Smith in the fourth quarter. No clue as to why Avery didn't let him do the same today.
Looking Ahead
The Nets have a quick turnaround and chance to snap their five-game losing streak in Toronto against the lowly Raptors tomorrow.
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