If you missed that game in Brooklyn last night, you missed a thriller. The Brooklyn Nets pulled out an overtime victory over the Milwaukee Bucks thanks to Joe Johnson’s heroics. Let us rewind to the last two minutes of regulation. The score had been stuck on 101-100 (Milwaukee) since there was two minutes and nine seconds left in the 4th quarter. With just under thirty seconds left, Deron Williams drove to his left, drew two defenders at about five feet from the basket, and found Andray Blatche under the hoop. Blatche threw two pump fakes up before he got fouled going up to the basket. Blatche stepped to the free throw line and knocked down both free throws, giving New Jersey a 102-101 lead with twenty seconds left (Blatche came up huge in the 4th quarter scoring 10 points). Coming out of a twenty second timeout, Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings (Jennings had a great game with 34 points) took the ball to the basket and missed a right handed lay-up, but Larry Sanders was there for the put back right at the rim. This gave Milwaukee a 103-102 lead with ten seconds left. After a twenty second timeout, the Nets inbounded to Deron Williams at half court. The ball was inbounded off a defenders leg and should have been a kick ball, however it went unnoticed. With Monta Ellis well within Williams’ three feet of personal space, Williams swung the ball past Ellis’ face and inadvertently struck him in the jaw with his elbow. The referee made an insanely late call, not blowing the whistle until Williams had passed the three point line. Now, I am in the minority that believes that fouls are fouls no matter when they occur. A foul in the first ten seconds of a game should also be a foul in the last ten seconds of the game. However, this call on Williams was a HORRIBLE CALL!! And on top of it, the call was made two hours late. This gave Milwaukee two early Christmas Presents, ahem, I mean free throws. Ellis knocked down both free throws, and put the Bucks up 105-102 with six seconds left. After another twenty second timeout by the Nets, the ball was advanced to half court. They inbounded to Deron Williams who quickly swung the ball to Joe Johnson at the top of the key, who caught the ball in stride, stepped up, and knocked down a three with one second left on the clock!! The crowd in the Barclays Center erupted!! With the Nets in celebration mode, the Bucks inbounded the ball and heaved up a three-quarter court shot that banged off the side of the rim nearly stealing an improbable victory. Off to overtime they went. It was a back and forth overtime, and Keith Bogans of the Nets kept them in the game with two huge three pointers in the extra frame. We’ll fast forward to a tie ball game (111-111) with five seconds left. Even though everyone and their mother knew Joe Johnson was going to take the last shot, the Bucks still allowed him to get the ball off the inbounds. Johnson drove the ball to the right, put a crossover through his legs back to the left, and off of one dribble he rose from 17 feet and drained a jumper right at the buzzer!! The crowd went wild, and the New Jersey Nets won a thriller over the Milwaukee Bucks 113-111.
Tag: Nets
NY vs. NY….A Rivalry Continues!!
As a lifelong Knicks fan, I get very excited about games like these. See, it’s been a while since The Knicks have had a good closely matched opponent to spark up a rivalry. That is exactly what the Brooklyn Nets are, a tough match-up for the New York Knicks. Let me see if I can pull out a useful boxing analogy from somewhere here. See, it’s like those Pacquiao/Marquez fights(I think there’s been 14 of them now?). This Knicks/Nets match-up is like two prize fighters whose styles counter each other perfectly. Now that game number 4 between these cross town foes is in the books, the season series is tied at 2 a piece. Now let me just interject in the middle of my own objective recap by stating that The Knicks will be the fighter still standing when it’s all said and done. Hint hint; that means that the Knicks will be Juan Manuel Marquez. Did you see that knockout?!?!?! I think Manny Pacquiao still has a fear of going to sleep because he’s afraid he’ll relive that punch over and over and over again in his dreams. By the way, who is this guy sitting next to Wally Szczerbiak on the Knicks post-game show? And how can he sit there with a straight face and say that this isn’t a rivalry? He’s trying to tell us that because this game was a low scoring “”snoozefest” that the Knicks didn’t want to win and this game didn’t carry the playoff atmosphere it should have. Even Al Trautwig started looking at this guy like he had four heads. The Knicks versus the Nets is a rivalry, and it is here to stay. With that being said let’s talk about the game. The Nets did their best not to win this game, but the Knicks just couldn’t capitalize on their mistakes. The Nets played sloppy basketball, and the Knicks won the turnover battle 19 to 5. However, the Nets had a game plan and they followed it. They knew that Carmelo was going to get his points no matter what they did, so they were physical with him and made him work for his 29 points. Carmelo’s 29 points came on 11 of 29 shooting while expending a ton of energy on the offensive end. The grueling 45 minutes he played left his legs just a little bit too tired to rise up for a baseline jumper with seconds remaining; one he’s made a million times in his life. What we can take away from this game as a positive is the chemistry Stat and Melo showed in the 2nd half. Which begs the question, why wasn’t Stat on the court down the stretch? What I saw in the 2nd half was when Melo and Mini Melo(J.R. Smith) penetrated into the lane, Stat found himself wide open under the hoop. So I say lets build on that. And while Stat should help the Knicks improve with his high pick and roll skills and dunking abilities, the key to our success is Stat digging in, rebounding, and PLAYING DEFENSE!! It may not be the brand of basketball most fans want to watch, especially with an offensive talent on the floor like Melo, but it will be the key to the Knicks success come playoff time. DEFENSE!! It may be a little cliche, but defense certainly wins championships. That’s why I believe that if Amare gives his all to the team concept, Kidd continues to be an ageless wonder, and the rest of the squad can stay healthy; the Knicks will be true contenders.
Dave Talks Sports 