On the road against a Houston Rockets team that had won four in a row and was firing on all cylinders, it didn’t seem as if the 0-7 Brooklyn Nets had any chance to get their first win of the new season on Wednesday night. The first quarter didn’t do much to point your expectations in any other direction, as the Nets gave up 28 points in the opening 12 minutes to fall behind by six.
But then, as if possessed by some magical spell or compulsion, the Brooklyn second unit — led by Shane Larkin and Bojan Bogdanovic — helped the Nets outscore Houston 33-21 in the second quarter to take a lead at the half. After the Rockets pushed back to regain control in the third, Brooklyn locked down in the final frame to steal a 106-98 victory for the team’s first of the season.
The Nets’ success starts and ends with Brook Lopez, who was pitted in a tough matchup against Dwight Howard this evening. Brook’s offensive numbers don’t look great (6-for-17 from the field for 14 points) but he grabbed 12 rebounds and, most importantly, swatted five Houston shots (the Nets as a team had a remarkable 11 blocks). He also managed to make some huge defensive stops on Dwight Howard late in the game to seal the win.
But the real reason the Nets were able to win tonight was due to the play of Larkin and Bogdanovic as well as Thomas Robinson, who all gave great minutes off the bench. Larkin played the majority of the minutes at the point in the second half and knocked down a bunch of three (3-for-4 from deep en route to 15 points) as well as playing mistake-free basketball (just one turnover). With his speed, he was also able to get the Nets to push the ball on fastbreaks in addition to getting to loose balls, which resulting in him collecting eight boards.
Bojan also was a big presensce on the boards, with nine rebounds, but was in a nice offensive groove all game as he posted a team-high 22 points on 10-for-20 shooting (2-for-5 from three) in 34 minutes. Finally, he was able to get his good looks in the corners to finish off solid offensive possessions with much-needed points. His triple at the 1:37 mark of the fourth quarter that put the Nets up 102-96 was the final nail in the Rockets’ coffin.
Still, it was far from a perfect performance for the Nets, who certainly benefited from Houston’s 8-for-34 shooting from behind the arc but rebounded better than they have all season (Brooklyn won the boards battle 60-45). Also, Brooklyn played smart on defense, only letting the free throw dependent Rockets get to the line 12 times. It was a mix of improved effort on both ends of the floor for the Nets along with bad shooting from James Harden (8-for-22), Trevor Ariza (5-for-14) and Ty Lawson (3-for-11). Still, for a 0-7 team, it was a big step in the right direction against one of the better teams in the Western Conference.
Some other thoughts from the game: Joe Johnson didn’t shoot well again but he did put together a neat 16-point, 10-assist and seven-rebound. He has always been a good passer — and good at limiting turnover (none tonight) — but at this point of his career, with his scoring ability visibly deteriorating, maybe Joe can turn into a pass-first guard who can use his size and prestige to draw doubles and find open teammates. His play tonight went a long way toward that….Thaddeus Young only played 22 minutes, partly because of how good the bench was, but was effective when he was on the court, scoring 13 points on eight shots along with three blocks. If Lopez and Thad weren’t able to help so quickly on the low block in the fourth quarter, the Rockets could have easily scored six to eight more points down the stretch….Wayne Ellington played, for the most part, terribly once again in this one but drilled an enormous three in the fourth quarter to extend the Nets’ lead. It was that kind of night for Brooklyn in which even the guys that didn’t play well (Jarrett Jack, Andrea Bargnani, Ellington, etc) contributed at least something positive to the winning effort. I’m as anti-Bargnani as someone covering the Nets could be, but he made a few big jumpers late in the game that were absolutely necessary. If he can knock down open 15-footers regularly, he actually could be useful….Markel Brown got a DNP-CD tonight, which is interesting considering how well he played when matched up against James Harden last season.
Looking Ahead: Friday night in Sacramento against the Kings.
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