For the fifth-consecutive game, the Nets could have easily won tonight’s contest in Charlotte against the Hornets. But, they were never able to recover from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit — even though they got within a single point — en route to their third loss in five games, a 116-111 defeat at the hands of the Hornets.
Brooklyn, after holding a 56-52 halftime advantage, played poorly in the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth to allow Charlotte to surge ahead to a 99-90 lead with 8:40 left in the game. For some reason, as the Hornets threatened to put away a Nets lineup that was without Brook Lopez, Jarrett Jack and Thaddeus Young, Lionel Hollins delayed putting his top players back in the game until the last possible moment.
After a pair of Jeremy Lamb free throws, Hollins put those guys back in the game and they immediately made stuff happen. Jack drilled a jumper after the timeout before hit a scoop shot to cut the Charlotte lead to 99-94. After Lamb split a pair of free throws, Brook hit a jumper which Jack followed up with a three that brought the Nets within one point of the Hornets.
But, that would be as close as Brooklyn would get to the lead for the rest of the night. Al Jefferson answered with an easy layup before Jack threw a pass away which allowed Jeremy Lin to get an open look at a three. He missed it but Marvin Williams got multiple put-back attempts before he tipped the ball in to extend the Charlotte lead to 104-99.
Brooklyn was able to hold serve for a few minutes was down just 112-108 with 6 seconds left when Kemba Walker missed two free throws that gave the Nets a golden opportunity to fight back. But, Joe Johnson missed a jumper and Thaddeus Young missed a gimme of a layup off the offensive rebound, so the Hornets were able to take possession. Then, Nicolas Batum stupidly threw the ball out of bounds, giving the Nets back the ball with just over 30 seconds left.
However, Lionel Hollins called a timeout during a possible Brooklyn fastbreak which completely eliminated any momentum the Nets had. After the break, Brook Lopez missed a jumper in the lane which was the Nets’ last chance at getting back in the game. Brooklyn ended up losing 116-111 in what was about as disappointing a loss as this team has had all season, and they’ve had 10 of them in less than a month. Also, this was the Nets’ third-consecutive loss in which they held a double-digit lead in the first half. That’s a nice summary of the season through 12 brutal games.
Some other thoughts I had from the game: I’m baffled by Lionel Hollins’ rotations on a regular basis, but tonight’s were especially frustrating. With the Nets down by a few possessions in the fourth quarter, he brought all the starters in except for Thaddeus Young, who scored 27 points tonight and grabbed eight rebounds as the most effective Net of the game. In his stead, Markel Brown — who hadn’t played in weeks — was on the floor, and the Hornets would promptly roast Brooklyn on the defensive boards, leading to multiple extra field goal attempts for the Hornets. That type of oversight, if unintentional which would be absurd, is truly terrible and might have cost the Nets a shot at this game. Thaddeus is 27 and one of the team’s best players, but he only played 33 minutes tonight while Andrea Bargnani (who posted a -14 rating, nothing out of the unusual for him) was on the floor for a dreadful 12 minutes. Also, Hollins calling a timeout on the possible fastbreak probably cost the Nets two points. If they had scored on that possession, they would have only been down two points. Inexcusable stuff….The Nets actually made some threes early in the game, especially Joe Johnson, who made his first four shots, three of which were from behind the arc. They got out to a 13-3 lead before allowing the Hornets to score 29 points in the next nine minutes. Joe only ended up with 16 points, as his shot was way off after the first quarter. He missed a boatload of makeable looks down the stretch too….Rondae Hollis-Jefferson only played 25 minutes due to foul trouble but played some nice defense on Al Jefferson and even made a few shots. In limited exposure, he’s shown some serious skills….Brooklyn did a great job in the first quarter of drawing fouls, getting Charlotte in the bonus halfway through the period, but settled for jumpers the rest of the game instead of attacking the rim. It’s not a surprise they lost considering they went 5-for-15 from three. When you’re a bad shooting team, why not continue to try to get to the basket and attempt uncontested free throws and layups instead of low-percentage jumpers….After being a good rebounding team through 11 games, the Nets were destroyed on the glass tonight, losing the battle of the boards 49-37 which negated the seven more turnovers Charlotte committed than Brooklyn did. The Hornets took advantage of Thad’s long second half benching on the glass for sure….Brook scored 23 points but was on 8-of-19 from the field and missed a few big shots down the stretch. He also only grabbed five rebounds and was beaten badly by Charlotte’s bench bigs — Spencer Hawes and Frank Kaminsky — who hurt him both on the perimeter and in drives to the hoop….Jarrett Jack was great again, scoring 16 points on 12 shots while almost posting a triple-double (eight rebounds and nine assists to boot). Right when he entered in the fourth quarter, he provided an offensive boost and helped pick him teammates up. Also, his passing was superb….Thomas Robinson and Wayne Ellington showed some life off the bench. Robinson made a few shots, even a banked 10-footer, but wasn’t great on the glass as he gave up a few inches to Hawes and Kaminsky when he was in. Ellington, who saw multiple shots roll in-and-out, looked for his shot more and displayed clear confidence as he helped the weak bench offensive effort….I said this above, but Bargnani was terrible tonight as he has been all season. He only scored eight points on 10 shots, all of which were relatively open, and was beaten on countless layups and rebound attempts. The injury to Willie Reed that’s forcing Bargnani to play has proven to be a killer….Once again, like in the Kings and Warriors games, but the Nets’ players and coaches fell asleep at the wheel in crunch time as another winnable game turned into a deflating road loss. For a 2-10 team, each loss is one step closer to a postseason-less year for Brooklyn. The Nets are already eight games under .500 and, if they keep losing close games, especially to Eastern Conference foes, will find themselves worlds out of the playoff picture by January 1st.
Onto the next one: Friday night in Boston against the upstart Celtics, who own the Nets’ (presumable) lottery pick this upcoming June.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
