What to Watch For: New York Knicks vs. Brooklyn Nets December 11

Tuesday, December 11^th, 2012

Pre Game News and Notes

New York Knicks vs. Brooklyn Nets

The Knicks will look to get some revenge in round two of the Battle of the Boroughs as they travel to Brooklyn to take on the Nets.  The first time around, the Nets won a hard fought overtime game 96-89.  In the first meeting, it was the Knicks who were not at full strength; tonight it will be the Nets who will be playing short-handed.  Here are some things to watch tonight:

-Jason Kidd in the Lineup

In the first matchup of the season, the Knicks were without guard Jason Kidd.  Thankfully, this time they will have Kidd at their disposal and he should assume his regular role in the starting lineup. 

Without Kidd in the lineup, the Knicks offense struggled; the ball movement was stagnant and the offense was over reliant on isolations, especially with Carmelo Anthony.  With Kidd in the lineup, the ball movement is crisper and everyone is on top of their game.

Kidd also brings veteran intangibles that are irreplaceable for the Knicks.  He is 39 years old, but he has the hands of a 24 year old and can still make things happen on the defensive end of the court and still makes precision passes not every point guard is capable of. 

-Attack the Paint

The Nets this time will be the team without a key piece in their lineup, as starting center Brook Lopez will miss the game with a foot injury.  It will be the sixth straight game that Lopez misses, meaning Andray Blatche will take over at center for the Nets tonight again.

The Nets are 1-4 without Lopez in the lineup, with their only win coming against a lowly Orlando Magic squad.  The Nets will also have Reggie Evans in the starting lineup, replacing Kris Humphries to try and replace the defense lost with Lopez sitting out.

Without Lopez in the lineup, the Nets are allowing 11.5 more points per game; 102.2 without Lopez compared to 90.7 with him.  The shooting percentages also see a drastic change without Lopez in the lineup, as the Nets are allowing teams to shoot 50.7 percent from the field without him compared to 44.9 with him. 

Blatche has filled in admirably for Lopez, scoring 17.2 points per game to go along with 9.8 rebounds, but he leaves a lot to be desired on the defensive end, blocking only 0.4 shots per game compared to the 2.5 Lopez provides.

-Bench Play

With the injuries the Nets have, their starting lineup will be shifted around much like the Knicks in the first meeting.  That means that their bench is weakened, meaning the Knicks have to take advantage.

Since Lopez has been out, the productivity of the Nets bench players has suffered as well.  Jerry Stackhouse has been shooting 30.4 percent from the field and C.J Watson is averaging only 1.5 assists and shooting 37.5 percent.

The Knicks bench has been coming alive of late, with Steve Novak finding his touch and Rasheed Wallace giving strong minutes as well.  J.R. Smith has struggled with his shot recently, but the effort he gives on defense and how he fills other stats still helps the Knicks.

With the Nets lineup change, the Knicks now have the superior bench and will have to take advantage as they cannot rely on Carmelo Anthony, Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler solely to carry the offense.  

Nets Can't Stop Losing Streak Against Bucks

sbnation.com

Nets vs. Bucks Post Game Recap 12/9

The Brooklyn Nets woes continued on Sunday at the Barclays Center losing to the Milwaukee Bucks 97-88, as the Nets are now on a four game losing streak, and have lost four out of five games without Brook Lopez.

The Nets star backcourt of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson were outplayed by their counterparts on the Bucks in Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis who combined for 50 points to just the 24 that Williams and Johnson were able to score.

The best player for the Nets in the starting lineup was by far Gerald Wallace who had a monster double-double scoring 16 points on six for 12 shooting to go along with a season-high 16 rebounds.

The starting lineup saw a shakeup at the power forward position from Avery Johnson, as Kris Humphries was moved to the bench, and Reggie Evans moved into the starting five. The move didn’t make much of a difference for the Nets however, as Humphries had four points and seven rebounds, and Evans had five points with nine rebounds, and four steals.

MarShon Brooks was finally given some minutes in this game, and was one of the main reasons for the Nets comeback attempt after being down by 29 points Brooks led the Nets off the bench scoring 14 points on four for five shooting, and was perfect at the free throw line going five for five.

The Nets will have a tough task on Tuesday trying to snap their losing streak at home against the New York Knicks and Carmelo Anthony in the second round of the East River Rivalry.

Nets Get Thunderstruck

Brooklyn Nets vs Oklahoma City Thunder Post Game Recap 12/4


The Brooklyn Nets fell to 11-6 as they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 117-111 in Brooklyn. The Nets were once again without Brook Lopez with a strained right foot for the 3rd straight game, as well as Reggie Evans who was suffering from the flu.

The Nets played awful defense in the first half, allowing the Thunder to shoot 65% from the field and trailed 61-48 at the half. They were unable to keep the Thunder out of the paint, as Westbrook who finished with 25 points and Durant who finished with 32 points got to the line a combined 20 times. Deron Williams struggled with keeping Westbrook infront of him all night, and the help defense which came late most of the time led to a wide open Sefolosha. On offense, the Nets primarily stayed out of the paint, shooting 34 three pointers. The Nets hit 14 of them, most coming in the 3rd quarter where the Nets made their run to cut the defecit to 2. With Evans out, rebounding the ball would have seemed to be troublesome for the Nets, but all the three pointers they shot led to long rebounds, which the Nets grabbed 16 of, 40 rebounds total. The Thunder only managed to grab 2 offensive rebounds and 33 in total. This odd rebounding effort allowed the Nets to stay in the game and let the game come down to the 4th quarter. Under 2:00 minutes left in the 4th, a close goaltending call on Kris Humphries on a Kevin Durant layup allowed the Thunder to go up 110-106, which sealed the deal.

BRIGHTSPOTS

Andray Blatche, who started in place for Lopez, continued to play well. Blatche finished the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds, 8 of which were offensive rebounds. Deron Williams also finally found his shooting touch as all season he had been struggling. Williams hit 5-9 from three point land finishing with 33 points and 7 assists. Along with Williams, Gerald Wallace also found his shooting touch in the 3rd quarter, shooting 4-7 from three point land. Mirza Teletovic, saw a lot of action in this game, and played well. Mirza shot 3-6 from the field for 8 points. Mirza will need to continue to play well due to Broo Lopez's history with injury.

QUESTIONMARKS

Brooklyn was the 2nd best defense in opponents ppg, but allowing the Thunder to score 117 was just atrocious. The Nets struggled on defense in almost every phase, from the guards not being able to keep the Thunder's perimeter players out of the paint, to our big men not being able to stay with their man. Serge Ibaka went 8-12 from the field and had two highlight dunks. Ibaka either got a wide open jump shot or an easy dunk on the offensive end.

Joe Johnson continued to struggle shooting the ball as well. When the Nets win easily, it's usually because JJ is on his game, and shooting well but this seems to be a rarity. JJ went 1-7 from 3 point land, and only started to hit jump shots in the 4th. Along with his iffy shooting, he seems scared to attack the basket, and didn't shoot one free throw. Infact, outside of Deron who shot 10 free throws, the Nets shot a combined 13 free throws.

It was also questionable rotation decisions by Avery Johnson in the 4th quarter that led to this loss. Blatche who played well, sat a little more than half the 4th quarter from 8:43 to 2:32. Blatche, who had been playing well all night, was substituted for Kris Humphries. The rationale was that they needed defense on the court, however that is something Humphries and the rest of the Nets didn't do all game. Along with this, Jerry Stackhouse played 30 minutes and finished with 8 points on 2-6 shooting. Stackhouse played down the stretch in the 4th quarter and hardly contributed at all.

After losing to both the Thunder and Heat, it's clear the Nets are not yet in their tier. They will have to get healthy and make improvements both on offense and defense but it was good to see where they stand against the NBA's elite.

Up next for the Nets are the 10-7 Warriors, who come to Brooklyn on Friday.

Nets Beat Magic to Extend Winning Streak

sbnation.com

Nets vs. Magic Post Game Recap 11/30

The Nets were able to go down to Florida and keep their winning streak alive making it five straight wins by beating the Magic 98-86, as the Nets finish off a great month of November going 11-4.

The Nets were led by another stellar game from Joe Johnson who has played much better in four of his last five games. Johnson scored a game-high 22 points on 10 for 16 shooting, and added five assists.

With Brook Lopez sitting out with his foot injury Gerald Wallace really picked up the scoring slack for the Nets. Wallace caught fire from the field scoring 20 points on seven for nine shooting including five for six from beyond the arc.

Andray Blatche seemed to slide into the starting rotation at center for Lopez with no problem, as Blatche continued his good play this time with the starting five by scoring 14 points on six for 14 shooting, and also grabbed nine rebounds.

Deron Williams with his banged up wrist didn’t look for his shot to much in the game only shooting the ball nine times, but did only have to play 30 minutes much less than normal, and hopefully the wrist will heal soon for Deron.

The bench unit without Blatche didn’t do much scoring, but Reggie Evans once again had a great rebounding game off the bench grabbing 10 rebounds making it his fifth straight game with double-digit rebounds.

The Nets will be in for a big test on Saturday against the defending world champion Miami Heat team, as the Nets will be without Brook Lopez and their winning streak maybe in serious jeopardy.

Knicks Lose OT Thriller in Brooklyn

Monday, November 26, 2012

Post Game Recap

Final Score: New York Knicks: 89 Brooklyn Nets: 96 OT

Knicks Lose Round 1 in OT Thriller

The Knicks lost the first round of the new found rivalry between them and the Nets 96-89 in an overtime thriller any basketball fan would have enjoyed.  Tonight’s game was the make-up from the season opener that was canceled because of the damage done by Hurricane Sandy.

The loss is hard enough to take, but losing Jason Kidd before the game to back spasms and then Ronnie Brewer to a dislocated finger in the fourth quarter made the loss that much harder to take. 

knicks-v-brooklyn-nets-20121126-192426-812.jpg

The Knicks struggled mightily without Kidd, as the ball movement was not as crisp and more pressure was put upon Raymond Felton and Carmelo Anthony.  It was the first and not the last time Kidd will be out, as he isn’t making the trip to Milwaukee for Wednesday night’s game, and it showed.

Felton struggled with his shot all night, going three of 19 from the field and only getting five assists.  Deron Williams, Felton’s counterpart for the night, severely outplayed him throughout the night, as Williams struggled from the field shooting six of 17, scoring 16 points, but handed out 14 assists. 

The Nets assisted on 23 of their 37 baskets, compared to just 14 assists of 33 baskets for the Knicks.

One reason for the lack of assists was the offensive load was placed on the shoulders of Anthony and the multiple isolation situations he was placed in.  Anthony had to get open on his own and do everything basically on his own as Felton was unable to get the pick-and-roll game going.

The Nets threw everything they had at Anthony from the start, constantly double-teaming him as Anthony scored only four points in the first quarter; the first quarter Anthony has dominated all season, scoring 11 points per game in the first frame.  

Anthony heated up in the middle frames and early in the fourth quarter, as he finished with 35 points on 11 of 25 shooting from the field.  Anthony also added team high 13 rebounds, as the Knicks as a whole got working on the glass in the fourth quarter after sorely being out hustled there the first three quarters.

knicks-v-brooklyn-nets-20121126-192623-027.jpg

Unfortunately for the Knicks, Anthony ran out of steam towards the end of the night, as he didn’t score a field goal the last seven minutes of the game.  Anthony also uncharacteristically missed free throws, going 10 of 16 from the charity stripe, missing four in the fourth quarter and overtime alone.

So much pressure was put on Anthony because Felton had an off night and the bench was atrocious.  The bench combined for only 13 points, never getting it going on the offensive end.  They didn’t match the energy level or intensity of the Nets bench either, as Reggie Evans grabbed 12 rebounds, five of the offensive variety.  

Marcus Camby in particular struggled with the energy level of Evans, as he was ineffective in his five minutes on the court, not securing a rebound and turning the ball over twice and committing two fouls.

J.R. Smith and Steve Novak were unable to get anything going on offense, combining to shoot just three of 10.  Smith did have seven rebounds, but the Knicks sorely missed his scoring punch with Felton struggling so much.  Novak struggled on the defensive end yet again, constantly losing his man for wide open three point attempts from the short corners.

Rasheed Wallace continued the trend, going just two of 11 from the field as he joined the long list of Knicks who were unable to get it going Monday night.  He grabbed eight rebounds, but didn’t have the normal impact on the game he had been having throughout the early part of the season.

The Knicks were -8 with Wallace on the court in large part because of his old college teammate Jerry Stackhouse.  Stackhouse knocked down four of five three point attempts, ending the night with 14 points and the best +/- of the night at +13.

/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201211261937706228314-p2.jpeg

The only person to help Anthony in the scoring column Monday night was Tyson Chandler, who set a career high with 28 points.  Chandler went 12 of 13 from the field and set the tone from the start scoring eight points in the first quarter.

http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201211261941709008316-p2.jpeg

Chandler came into the game with a lot of intensity, the only player who matched the level of the Nets for the whole night.  Chandler had his presence felt while he was on the court, as he grabbed 10 rebounds in addition to his 28 points, adding one assist and two steals as well.

The Knicks head back on the road with a game in Milwaukee against the Bucks Wednesday night at 8:00 P.M. ET.  The Knicks will not have Jason Kidd again and potentially could be without Ronnie Brewer as well, possibly leaving the Knicks thin in the backcourt against a team that sports Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis as their starting backcourt. 

Nets Down Knicks in Overtime

ph.sports.yahoo.com

Nets vs. Knicks Post Game Recap 11/26

The Brooklyn Nets were able to win the first battle for New York against the Knicks in overtime 96-89, as with the win the Nets and Knicks are now both (9-4) atop the Atlantic Division.

Deron Williams despite the sprained wrist lead to another poor shooting game came thru in the clutch for Brooklyn while notching his sixth double-double of the season. Williams scored 16 points on 6 for 17 shooting, but had a season-high 14 assists, and was getting M-V-P chants while icing the game for the Nets at the line in overtime.

Center Brook Lopez in a battle with last years defensive player of the year Tyson Chandler had yet another great game offensively. Lopez finished the game scoring 22 points on nine for 20 shooting with 11 rebounds, and five blocks.

Joe Johnson who looked like he was starting to find his groove after two big games of scoring fell short in the big game against the Knicks. Johnson only scored eight points on three for 12 shooting.

Gerald Wallace had his best game of the season contributing on the offensive and defensive end of the court. Wallace finished with a season high 16 points on six for 13 shooting, and added two steals and two blocks.

The bench for the Nets outplayed the bench for the Knicks led by Jerry Stackhouse who at the young age of 38 showed he’s still got some game left in the tank. Stackhouse outscored the Knicks bench on his own, as he finished with 14 points on four for six shooting with all four baskets being three-pointers. Reggie Evans also had yet another monster game of rebounding, as he grabbed 14 rebounds in just 18 minutes.

The Nets will have to turn their attention to yet another Atlantic Division opponent, as they will be facing the Boston Celtics on Wednesday who will be looking to avenge the loss the Nets handed them earlier in the season.

Nets Rally Late to Beat Trail Blazers

blazersedge.com

Nets vs. Trail Blazers Post Game Recap 11/25

The Brooklyn Nets were able to pickup their second straight win beating the Portland Trail Blazers 98-85, as the Trail Blazers were without their star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge who sat out with back spasms.

The Nets were led by shooting guard Joe Johnson who had his second straight nice game, as it seems he is starting to get into a groove with his new team. Johnson led the Nets in scoring with 21 points on 10 for 19 shooting, and added four assists.

Deron Williams who is still banged up, and far from 100 percent healthy didn’t shoot the ball well again, but that didn’t stop him from recording his 5th double-double of the season. Williams finished scoring 15 points on four for 13 shooting, but had 12 assists, and a career-high four blocks.

Kris Humphries had a solid game for Brooklyn notching a double-double with 14 points on seven for nine shooting, and had 10 rebounds.

Gerald Wallace had a disappointing first game against is former team, as Wallace missed his first seven shots from the field finishing the game going one for eight with only two points, and a rebound.

Brook Lopez had another strong game continuing his good start to the season thus far, as Lopez scored 15 points on seven for 14 shooting with eight rebounds, and two blocks.

Reggie Evans had yet another strong game off the bench rebounding, as in just 22 minutes Evans grabbed 14 rebounds making it three out of the last four games Evans has had double-digit rebounds.

Next up for the Nets will be the New York Knicks on Monday in the Barclays Center in the highly anticipated match-up that was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy.

Nets Return Home and Beat Clippers

nydailynews.com

Nets vs. Clippers Post Game Recap 11/23

The Nets were able to return home after a disappointing West Coast trip, and beat the Los Angeles Clippers who have been playing very good basketball 86-76, as the Nets certainly like playing in the Barclays Center improving to (5-1).

The second half was all Brooklyn, as they outscored the Clippers 46 to 29, and even won the third quarter battle something that they have been struggling to do.

The 2012 Olympic gold medal teammates Deron Williams, and Chris Paul met again, and even though Chris Paul outplayed the banged up Williams the Nets were still able to get the win. Williams scored only 11 points on a bad three for 10 shooting, but did add eight assists, and appeared to hurt his wrist in the game as well to add to his nagging injuries thus far. Chris Paul did play better than Williams but not by a large margin, as Paul scored 14 points on five of 11 shooting, and added nine assists with five rebounds.

Joe Johnson came to play on Friday night shaking off his struggles in the early part of the season for a nice game scoring 19 points on eight for 12 shooting, as when Johnson plays well the Nets are going to be an extremely tough team to beat.

Brook Lopez had another big game offensively showing that when healthy he is definitely a top five offensive center in the NBA, as he put up a nice game against one of the better defensive centers in the league in DeAndre Jordan. Lopez scored a game-high 26 points on 13 for 24 while adding three blocks, and five rebounds.

Reggie Evans had a nice game off the bench against the Clippers the team he played for last year, as Evans had 12 rebounds and six points in just 22 minutes.

The Nets will look to keep their great home play going on Sunday, as they will face the Portland Trail Blazers, and their star rookie point guard Damian Lillard.