• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
Photo: Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY- With Brooklyn recently clinching a playoff berth the Nets were headed to Madison Square Garden to face their city rival Knicks. The Knicks would be playing for their chance for the last playoff spot and the Nets would be playing for home court advantage. However the way this one went you might have thought that I had that backwards…

The first quarter started the way we all thought it would with the Knicks hitting a 3 right off the bat and the Nets answering right back. Midway through the first the Nets rotated out Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce which would prove to be costly later on. With about two minutes left in the first, the game was tied at 18-18, but thats when things fell apart for the Nets. Brooklyn began to settle for bad shots and turned the ball over way too many times providing easy baskets for the Knicks, who would go on a 10-0 run to end the first 29-20.

At the beginning of the second the Nets decided to add to growing bench of super-stars by taking out Deron Williams, who had 9 of Brooklyn’s 20 in the first quarter. Coach Kidd would go with a smaller lineup of Anderson, Livingston, Thornton, Teletovic, and Blatche for half of the second quarter. The Knicks on the other hand played most of their starters throughout and continued to take advantage of the disgruntled Nets lineup. On the defensive side of the ball the Nets were forcing the Knicks into bad shots, but were unable to come up with many rebounds which allowed New York to have plenty of second chance points. The score going into the half was 63-38 with everything going right for the Knicks…that doesn’t sound right if you’ve been following the Nets, but it was and the Brooklyn seemed to have no answers going into the half.

Photo: Getty Images

It was clear that the first half was terribly managed and coached by the Nets. Those second chance points Brooklyn gave up was clearly due to a small lineup and on the offensive side the Nets ran too many iso plays allowing the Knicks to focus on just one player. The only bright side for Brooklyn was newly acquired Marcus Thornton who scored 8 points in the second and was 2/3 from beyond the arc. But for Nets fans there really wasn’t a big bright spot just a dark cloud lurking over the rest of the game because you could already get the feeling that this was going to be a long, ugly game.

The Nets came out stronger in the third with Joe Johnson leading the way alongside Deron Williams, but the Knick’s J.R. Smith kept pounding the Nets with 3-pointers and ultimately allowed the New York to keep their big lead. The Nets just outscored the Knicks 23-19 in the third. That wouldn’t be enough to make any ground for a fourth quarter comeback. The fourth quarter wasn’t any different from the rest of the game. The Nets benched their starters the rest of the game and all that was left to think about was the next game. At least they were already in the playoffs. That might be the only positive for the Nets coming out of this. The game ended in a 110-81 Knicks win. J.R. Smith had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Carmelo Anthony added 23 points and 10 rebounds.

PuresportsNY: Bobby O’Hara

By Bobby O'Hara

Bobby is a graduate of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting where he studied TV, Radio, and Journalism. Growing up in New Jersey, he is a hometown guy who loves the local fans’ passion for the game. Bobby currently covers football for PureSportsNY. Graduating with awards in both audio and video production, Bobby also produces video and graphics.

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