• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

 

 

December 14th 2016

Brooklyn Nets 107  Los Angeles Lakers 97

The Nets were without Jeremy Lin as they took on the Los Angeles Lakers. Lin warmed up for less than a minute and knew that he could not play; he took a few free throws then headed quickly to the locker room. He was diagnosed with a sore lower back. The Nets were coming off a close loss to the Houston Rockets in their previous game and returned home to host the Lakers who were on a seven game losing streak.

 

The Lakers started their season strong but were hit with a rash of injuries to some of their key players. This was one of their few games recently when they had all their players available for action. The Laker fans  were well represented at Barclays last night.

Without Jeremy Lin the Nets started rookie Isaiah Whitehead and they got a scare 30 seconds into the game. Coach Atkinson was forced to call a timeout after Whitehead went down with an apparent injury. He shook it off and came back into the game after the timeout. The Lakers also had some point guard issues as well as D’Angelo Russell picked up two very quick fouls to begin the game and a third with 5:13 left in the first period.

 

Brook Lopez established himself early in the game as he had 7 first quarter points and played to his strengths in the paint. He had quite a battle with Timofey Mosgov of the Lakers early on in the game. Both centers played well in the first half. The first quarter was close throughout with no team having  more than a 3-point lead. Bogan Bogdanovic had 8-points in the first as well, the Lakers closed the quarter on a personal 6-0 run by Jordan Clarkson as he scored on 3 consecutive baskets to give LA the 30-27 lead.

 

The second quarter saw much of the same action with both teams trading baskets and no one pulling away with any large leads. The Nets moved the ball well in the second quarter and began to dominate the board, which became a big part in their keys to victory last night. Sean Kilpatrick with the buzzer beating 3 at the half gave the Nets their biggest lead of the first half as they took the lead 52-43. Brook Lopez and Kilpatrick led the Nets in the first half. The Lakers struggled somewhat on offense, as Russell was limited to just about 11 minutes due to foul trouble. The young Lakers were outrebounded 33-25 in the first half as the Nets had 11 offensive boards. The Lakers however had the advantage with scoring in the paint at that point.

“They got rebounds and free throws its hard to win the game in that position..” D’Angelo Russell 

The Lakers came out of the half with a little more energy. D’Angelo Russell hit a three to open the scoring in the second half then the Lakers went on a quick 8-1 run forcing coach Atkinson to call a timeout with 9:13 left in the third. After the timeout Sean Kilpatrick scored on a tough layup in transition to give the Nets a five-point lead.

 

Isaiah Whitehead struggled defensively as he picked up his 4th foul with 7:35 left in the 3rd as Russell began to heat up. The Nets were careless with the ball in the third period they had 5 turnovers and they allowed the Lakers to get confident. Nick Young also heated up in the third he had 8-points in the period and Russell added 7. The Lakers led 76-75 heading into the fourth period.

 

Bogdanovic hit a three to begin the 4th for the Nets to give them the 78-76 lead but rookie Brandon Ingram answered with a jumper of his own to tie the game. The chants of “Lets Go Lakers” began but the Brooklyn fans did not let the Laker faithful deter their home team. The fourth quarter was close until the end the Nets pulled away as the Lakers went through a stretch of about six minutes without scoring a basket. The Nets took this game 107-97 rebounding from their previous loss and adding another loss to the Lakers streak.

” We have to keep a positive mindset…” Brook Lopez

 

The Nets had three players who scored 20+ points in last nights contest, as it was a total team effort. Sean Kilpatrick showed once again that he know when his team needs him to be aggressive offensively, he had 22-points on the night and had key baskets as the Nets tried to secure the win. Brook who always seems to be the emotional leader for the teams, especially during tough times finished with 20-points and 7 rebounds. Bojan Bogdanovic added 23 points and was the leading scorer for the game. Trevor Booker played well and led the team with 18 rebounds as the Nets won the battle on the boards 61-49.

“At the end we rebounded better…” Coach Kenny Atkinson

The Nets face the Orlando Magic on Friday on the road as they look to build on this momentum.

Thank you for reading

Photo Credit: Brad Penner USA Today Sports

Sherman Gomez is a staff writer for PureSportsNY

Follow Sherman Gomez on Twitter: sherman@shermangmz1

Email: shermangmz1@gmail.com

By Sherman Gomez

"Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court." "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller." "Last week messed around and got a triple double." I write about basketball sometimes and then I try to go play....

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