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| The Nets had no answer for Bradley Beal, as the shooting guard dropped a game-high 29 points on 11-20 shooting |
Who guessed the Brooklyn Nets would be winless on the road after their first three away games of the season against the Cavaliers, Magic, and Wizards? I certainly didn't, and I'm sure not many others did as well. However, it's true, as the Nets have lost yet again while away from the Barclays Center, this time to a Washington Wizards team missing 1st-round pick Otto Porter and key reserve Trevor Booker.
Brooklyn blew a nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter to make the game close and Jason Terry missed a wide-open three-pointer at the end of regulation to seal the transformation from an almost-certain Nets win into an overtime struggle, which the Wizards won. Brooklyn missed four of the seven free throws it took in the extra period (two by Andray Blatche) in order to give Washington multiple chances to climb back into the game, which was done by a Trevor Ariza three-pointer with 40 seconds left.
(By the way, Washington was 6-6 from the free throw line in overtime and hit 77% of its free throws during regulation. The Nets hit 69%.)
Some other observations I had from the game: No #ReggieEvansReboundCount tonight, even though the big man grabbed two. He only played 14 minutes but hit both free throws he attempted, so clearly the stars in the sky were aligned in some sort of distorted fashion this evening…..Brooklyn and Washington were both 41-88 from the field (47%), attempted 24 threes (Nets hit six while Wizards hit ten), and made 20 free throws (Nets attempted 29 and Wizards attempted 26). The Nets also lost the turnover battle by five and committed eight more fouls than their opponent, so if you're looking for a culprit to yet another disappointing Brooklyn loss, there you go…..To make it worse, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce (in his defense, he was sick before the game and was a game-time decision) combined for merely eight points on 3-16 shooting. To boot, Pierce didn't even score in regulation. Obviously, a 3-16 outing from the pair is unacceptable and makes the Nets beating any team extremely difficult. There's no excuse for Garnett (as Pierce was under the weather) for another poor shooting output.
Looking Ahead
The Nets are back at it again tomorrow night at home versus the undefeated Pacers as Brooklyn tries to yet again right the ship after a bad, bad loss.
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