NETS Win 113-109 vs. Cross Town Rival Knicks
Nets take first battle of the boroughs matchup with a 113-109 win in Brooklyn on Friday night. However, although they got the win, it was far from pretty.
Whether it was the turnovers, the scrappiness in the second quarter or the fouls committed, you take your pick.
The plus side for the Brooklyn Nets is that they were ahead for most of this game, leading by 19 at one point.
With so many basketball pundits having such high expectations for the Nets this season, you would think games against teams where the rookie is the bright spot would be on the easier side, but that wasn’t the case. By the 3:41 mark in the fourth quarter, that same rookie made a jump shot that turned that 19-pt Brooklyn lead into a 3-point deficit, making it 109-106.
If the Nets had to point their finger to one thing it was the offense. That fell flat in the fourth quarter, where they only scored 19 points, compared to the first three quarters where they scored 30+ each period.
Fortunately NBA Champion Kyrie Irving was able to use his heroics and not only take, but make a go-ahead shot with 0:22 left in regulation to go back up 111-109. Last year, this was a game the Nets almost surely would have lost.
“Down to the wire again,” said Irving. “But my teammates had my back, stayed poised. Now we get to enjoy this W.”
This was a much needed win for the Nets after losing the way they did against the Timberwolves in overtime on Wednesday, but as mentioned it wasn’t a pretty one.
For starters, both teams combined to turn the ball over 52 times, 26 a piece. You can say it was sloppy basketball to say the least. For the Nets this is something that has to be improved because in their first two games this season they’re averaging 21 TOV, ranking 26 in the league. Last season they averaged 15.1 TOV.
Granted, the defensive intensity was up from start to finish, which played a role in the turnovers. The Knicks had 14 steals, while the Knicks had 11, but the ball still has to be taken care of nonetheless.
Like any other time these two teams go head-to-head things get chippy, and this time there was no difference.
With a minute left in the second quarter after Irving gathered a rebound from the floor after a missed shot, Bobby Portis ran to grab the ball from Kyrie very aggressively. This resulted in a jump ball. However, even after the whistle was blown Portis kept going. Taurean Prince then pushed Portis away and the two forwards got called for technical fouls. This set the tone for the rest of the game defensively.
Lastly, both teams committed a lot of fouls with the Knicks committing 31 (10 more than their average last season), and the Nets committing 26 (four more than their average last season).
This all made it a hard fought win, but it’s something the Nets can definitely build off of.
The leading scorers for each team were Allonzo Trier with 20 points for the Knicks and Kyrie Irving with 26 points and five assists for the Nets.
