The Brooklyn Nets were so thoroughly “embarrassed” last time out (Jordi Fernández’s word, not mine) that the loss didn’t reflect just their own shortcomings, but for many, a spiritual rot at the center of the NBA. Brooklyn scored just 24 points in the first half against the Oklahoma City Thunder’s historic defense, not just a poor output but a disgraceful one.
Hark! The doubtless millions who tuned in to watch the defending champions face
an Eastern Conference cellar-dweller with less than a month left in the regular season were rudely treated to a 29-point blowout. What is the NBA prepared to do about it? A question that surely must be asked and debated every day, all the time.
On Friday evening, the Brooklyn Nets didn’t just cap off their three-game homestand. They defended their honor, against the New York Knicks no less.
The 17-52 Nets were the more physical team from the jump, more engaged on defense than they’ve been in weeks. The visitors underestimated their opponent, yes. But Brooklyn’s multiple efforts were no less impressive…
After a successful first half, Ziaire Williams told YES Network’s Meghan Triplett: “We owe them one. They whooped on us last time we played ‘em, this one’s a little more personal. We’re just getting after it.”
Williams spoke no lie. This was not going to be another 120-66 win for the ‘Bockers. The Knicks scored a season-low 14 points in the first quarter. This marked quite a role reversal for Brooklyn, who took a 50-44 lead into the break, much to the dismay of the majority blue-and-orange Barclays Center crowd. Brooklyn defended Jalen Brunson particularly well, trapping his ball-screens and showing aggressive help when he had a one-on-one matchup. The Knicks captain shot just 7-of-19 in this one while ex-Net Mikal Bridges (boy that feels like ages ago) scored just nine points. Instead, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns took the offensive lead.
Dare I say it almost felt like a rivalry? Perhaps the Knicks were just pissed about their sluggish start, but Mitchell Robinson and Ziaire Williams got double-techs in the first half after Robinson took great offense to a Nolan Traore foul…
Nic Claxton and OG Anunoby continued the fun in the second half, picking up double-techs after refusing to keep their hands to themselves.
Sadly, it was not Brooklyn’s first-round rookies that kept them in this one. At least offensively. Danny Wolf, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, and Ben Saraf combined to shoot 9-of-33. Traore, at the very least, had seven assists (to four turnovers) while Powell and Saraf applied noteworthy ball pressure on Brunson.
Brooklyn’s rangy wings led them in this one. Ziaire Williams scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, two of them coming on this pick-six…
Said Fernández: “Sometimes we gotta let Ziaire be Ziaire, right? His energy is contagious, and a lot of times it’s not going to be perfect, but he just makes up — sometimes he’ll make mistakes and he makes up for them with, like, that extreme energy.”
Josh Minott led the team with 22 points, making a career-high six threes. Once again, it was his best game in a Nets uniform, perhaps the best game of his career. He also recorded a couple blocks and a steal, even hitting OG Anunoby with a nasty pump-fake and score at the end of the first quarter…
“Played really, really, really hard,” said Fernández. “And then you see his line right … he’s playing very well, took advantage of his minutes. And you know, it’s good to see, you know, continuing to evaluate these guys going into the summer.”
Yet again, it was the bench outplaying the starters, and they were rewarded with major second-half minutes. It appeared the Knicks were finally running away with it toward the end of the third quarter, taking their first double-digit lead of the game.
Then, out of nowhere, Chaney Johnson, Malachi Smith, Ochai Agbaji, Saraf, and Minott lead an 11-0 Nets run to make things tight once again…
It was nail-biting time. Unsurprisingly, neither Claxton nor Williams ever returned to the game, but tank or no tank, the reserves truly earned the opportunity.
Per Fernández, the veterans even urged their head coach to keep rocking with the two-ways and 10-days: “‘They’re rolling, they’re rolling, stay with them,’ and it was good to see. It’s good how they support each other and how they see that we have a chance to win.”
Brooklyn took an 87-84 lead with just over three minutes to go. They were really about to do it. This was beyond tanking — the deepest part of Brooklyn’s roster was outplaying the nonchalant Knicks. Alas, it was not to be. Brunson hit a pull-up, KAT continued to bulldoze his way to the line, as he shot more free-throws than the Nets by himself.
Postgame, Fernández hinted but did not explicitly say that poor refereeing really killed his team: “It comes down to the free-throw line and some of those things we cannot control. You know, 32-to-10, it’s absolutely — if you do your math, it’s 22 free-throws of difference. Yeah. Right there is the game, but the guys played the right way.”
KAT, however, missed his final two attempts, giving the Nets one last chance to pull off the stunner. But their first sideline-out-of-bounds play was deflected, and all they could muster was a Ben Saraf half-court heave that fell ten feet short. That may be for the best in the long run, and this will go down as just another loss, same as the 54-point blowout they experienced in MSG.
But it sure didn’t feel that way.
Final Score: New York Knicks 93, Brooklyn Nets 92
Injury Report
Pregame, Jordi Fernández provided a couple updates on injured Nets, including one for Michael Porter Jr.
Brooklyn announced on Thursday that an MRI revealed a left hamstring strain for their leading scorer, scheduled to be re-evaluated in two-to-three weeks. The regular season, of course, has just over three weeks left. It would be quite the surprise if Porter Jr. plays in another game this season, though Fernández wouldn’t commit to that.
“Two-to-three weeks, but obviously there’s ramp-up to get back to a competition level,” said Fernández. “So, you know, we cannot predict [if he will play again], but it will be close. So we go through these two, three weeks, and then put the work in and so forth. And then we’ll see where we are.”
The head coach also revealed that Noah Clowney will miss at least one more game — the Nets travel to Sacramento on Sunday — with the sprained right wrist he suffered on Wednesday evening.
Next Up
We have one hell of a tanking battle on our hands. The 17-win Nets travel to Sacramento to face the 18-win Kings in their first of two meetings this month. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET.
