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| Tyreke Evans exploded in the 3rd quarter, almost singlehandedly bringing the Pelicans right back into this game |
Through around 26 minutes of gameplay tonight in New Orleans, the Nets looked as good as they have all season. Brooklyn was up by 22 points (66-44) against a Pelicans team missing Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson, and Eric Gordon all to injury and was cruising through what felt like it was going to be their fifth consecutive triumph.
Not so fast, Monty Williams' team said.
New Orleans mounted a 29-10 run to end the third quarter and took control of the game with some big three-pointers–from former Net Anthony Morrow and Brian Roberts–in the fourth quarter. The Nets had to scratch and claw just to tie this game up by the time regulation ended, which they did on the strength of Joe Johnson, a Mason Plumlee jam, and an enormous Paul Pierce three. A Morrow long two back-rimmed at the buzzer, sending the Nets to their second overtime game in as many nights.
Back-to-back threes from Roberts and Morrow in overtime basically sealed this game up for the Pelicans, as they took a 106-100 after Morrow's, and with another long ball from the Georgia Tech sharpshooter a few minutes later, extended their advantage to seven with less than a minute to go. This proved to be an insurmountable margin of deficit for the Nets to come back from, especially because the Nets missed five three-pointers in the last minute of extra time alone.
Some other observations I had from the game: Yes, losing a game against a subpar and shorthanded opponent after being ahead by 22 points is devastating, but it's by no means debilitating. Brooklyn lost Marcus Thornton to a sore back at halftime and didn't have Andrei Kirilenko (ankle) or Kevin Garnett (back) at all, meaning Jason Kidd was without three key contributors…..Tyreke Evans scored 33 points on 13-for-19 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out seven assists. He may not have a position, but he can really play. Morrow added 11 for New Orleans and Roberts scored 17….The Nets attempted 40 three tonight and made just 10. For you non-math people out there, that's just 25%. And yes, that's horrendous for a NBA team. Brooklyn will lose in the first round of the playoffs, and probably be swept, if they shoot anywhere near 40 threes and hit around a quarter of them. Joe Johnson was a big contributing factor to that, as he went just 1-of-8 from three and missed loads of wide open looks. Deron Williams, who did score 23 points and nabbed eight assists, was also bad, as he went 3-of-9. Mirza: 2-of-6. Paul Pierce, who dropped a team-high 24, was just 4-for-11 from beyond the arc. Brooklyn also shot just 36.7% from the field overall….Anthony Davis put 24 and 14 on efficient 9-of-17 shooting, and didn't even feel like a huge factor in this game. I think when you can do that, you've become a true superstar.
Looking Ahead
The Nets have some time to digest this poor second half performance as they next play on Wednesday night in Charlotte against the Bobcats.
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