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| Marcus Thornton faced off with his old team for the first time, and when he did, he certainly made the Kings sorry they ever traded him |
Two days after one of their worst losses of 2014, a road defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics, the Brooklyn Nets returned home and did what they were supposed to do: blow out a team that was 18 games under .500. That team was the Sacramento Kings, the bunch sorry enough to run into the Nets this evening at the Barclays center, as Jason Kidd's team came to play, shooting very well and causing 25 turnovers. The Kings almost doubled up the Nets in rebounds, 53 to 27, but that's besides the point, for now.
Other than a 57-57 tie in the 3rd quarter, the home team led this game the entire way, from tip to final buzzer. The Nets opened up with a ton of energy, grabbing a 17-4 advantage just six minutes into the game. On a scary note, though, Paul Pierce–who had been suffering from a shoulder stinger for a few games–had to come out after just a minute of play due to said shoulder injury. The severity isn't known right now, but both he and Andrei Kirilenko–who left the game for good later with a sprained ankle–are listed as day-to-day.
As you could predict, the Kings fought back against that deficit and were down nine at the end of the first period. However, in the next quarter when the reserves entered (Nets had 59 bench points while Sacramento had just 19), Brooklyn started to build a massive, double-digit lead on the strength of Mirza Teletovic, Marcus Thornton, and Alan Anderson, who combined for 47 points on the night on 19-for-32 shooting (9-for-17 from three). When the Kings big guns came in–talking about Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins–the once 16-point lead dwindled down to just nine, putting them in decent halftime position.
After some exchanging of buckets back and forth to start the 2nd half, Rudy Gay, Isaiah Thomas, and DeMarcus Cousins spurred a 10-0 Sacramento run that changed the lead from 57-47 in favor of Brooklyn to a 57-57 stalemate in just two minutes. At that point, it appeared all the momentum and good feelings the Nets established early on had evaporated and that maybe this would turn into a 2nd-straight disappointing loss. But no, said former King Marcus Thornton and Joe Johnson, who each hit a few big jumpers in the 3rd to bring the lead back to a nice size heading into the final frame.
Then, in the 4th, Thornton totally took over. The LSU product and Baton Rouge native scored 13 of the team's first 16 points in the quarter, hitting a fair share of three along the way. When his reign of terror was over, Brooklyn was up 93-70 and had quickly turned a close and competitive game into a laugher of one that was one-sided for sure. That sort of win was just what the Nets needed, though, as they have a quick turnaround and play again tomorrow.
Some other observations I had from the game: Basically, the Nets didn't have KG (back) or Pierce (shoulder)–except for a minute–tonight and had no 2nd half Andrei Kirilenko, but were still able to get defensive stops when needed–Jason Collins was great on Cousins. Great teams can still play well even when severely handicapped in terms of available players, and the Nets were able to get a win under those circumstances on Sunday night. That's a good sign for this squad, even if the injuries are troublesome…..The Nets forced 25 turnovers and scored 28 off those Sacramento miscues. The Kings only forced 11 Brooklyn ones and scored 11 points off them. The score deficit at the final buzzer? 15 points. Those turnovers made a huge difference…..It was interesting how, due to Pierce's and AK's absences, both Alan Anderson and Thornton were able to play good minutes and both capitalized. Tonight's win was a man goes down, another one steps up kind of performance.
Looking Ahead
The Nets are right back at it as they host the Atlantic Divison-leader Toronto Raptors tomorrow night in Brooklyn.
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