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| Jason Kidd torched the Nets for 18 points on six three-pointers on December 11th, when these teams last played each other. It was a Knicks win |
When: 7:00 pm; Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
Where: Madison Square Garden; New York, NY
TV: ESPN
Through two meetings this season, both at the Barclays Center, the Nets and Knicks are evenly tied up at one win apiece. Brooklyn took the first game with Manhattan taking the second. Tonight, that tie will be broken at Madison Square Garden as the banged-up Nets and banged-up Knicks face off in a primetime ESPN matchup that will surely be competitive, close, and fun to watch, even if it does end up in a third consecutive loss for Brooklyn.
Injured players are around the spectrum for both teams. The Nets won't have the services of Jerry Stackhouse and Josh Childress yet again tonight. Stackhouse has been out since December 11th's game in Brooklyn with a knee injury sustained when banging knees with Jason Kidd. Childress, who has seen sparingly little playing time this year, hasn't been in action since the Nets' November 9th loss to the Bucks due to a foot injury. The Knicks, troubled by injuries all year long, won't have Steve Novak (flu) or Rasheed Wallace (foot) in addition to missing Iman Shumpert, Marcus Camby, and Amare Stoudamire as well.
Having lost seven of their last nine games overall, the Nets need a big win in the worst way possible and are presented with a great opportunity to do that with a crucial game against their fellow NYC NBA players. Sitting pretty with a decent cushion in first place of the Atlantic Division, the Knicks don't need this game as much as the Nets do, as they are 4-1 in their past five games. Shockingly, the Manhattanites have been incredibly good this season–even after letting Jeremy lin go this offseason–and as we saw on December 11th, can scorch any opposing team from deep.
Probable Lineups
NETS- D-Will (PG), Joe Johnson (SG), Wallace (SF), Humphries(PF), Lopez (C)
NY- Felton (PG), Kidd (SG), Brewer (SF), Anthony (PF), Chandler (C)
Final Thoughts
The Nets allowed the Knicks to hit 14-28 three-pointers they attempted last game, a crazy statistic which probably accounts for why they were able to come back and steal the game from hometown Brooklyn. In addition to stopping Melo, who had 45 last game, the Nets simply have to play sound and active defense against a streaky Knicks squad if they are to have any chance of stopping this two-game losing skid dead in its tracks. Also, Brooklyn must make open shots–looking at you D-Will and Joe Johnson–as simple shot accuracy (or a lack of it) has doomed the Nets in recent games.
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