Brook Lopez

The Brooklyn Nets’ season ended Saturday night in front of their home fans as they lost to the Chicago Bulls 99-93. The Nets trailed by as much as 17 in the first half and cut Chicago’s lead down to as few as 4 points, but just could not complete the comeback. Deron Williams led the Nets with 24 points and 7 assists. Joakim Noah and Marco Belinelli each scored 24 points for Chicago.

The first quarter was close throughout. The Nets finished the quarter down 29-25, mainly due to Joakim Noah, who had 10 points and 5 rebounds, all offensive. Deron Williams was great for the Nets with 9 points and 3 assists, including a very pretty transition pass to Gerald Wallace. The Nets were badly outrebounded in the quarter, and that was the main reason they were trailing.

The second quarter was a very bad one for the Nets. Again they got badly outrebounded and were really not playing with any passion at all. Joakim Noah had another great scorer and the Nets couldn’t get any stops on defense. The Bulls had their biggest lead of the game at halftime, up 61-44.

Third quarters have been a problem for the Nets all season, but tonight that wasn’t the case. The Nets responded from their terrible first half by outscoring Chicago 31-21 in the third quarter to cut the Bulls’ lead to 7 points. Gerald Wallace led the charge with his hustle and shot-making. He made three 3-pointers in the quarter to go along with a couple of big dunks. The Nets were still alive as the fourth quarter started.

In the fourth quarter, the Nets just couldn’t get over the hump and come back. They got within as few as 5 points, but Chicago had an answer for every Brooklyn mini-run. Marco Belinelli made free throws down the stretch and Chicago hung on to win the game.

Obviously, I have a lot more to say about this game and season. Expect lots more posts in the coming days.

For a box score of this game, click here. 

Player grades and notes: 

Reggie Evans: B

Reggie gave the Nets some energy in the third quarter and brought them back into the game. But he still couldn’t guard Carlos Boozer and still did nothing on offense.

Gerald Wallace: A-

Wallace had the game the Nets needed from him tonight, scoring 19 points, his highest total in a long, long time. He was also key in the third quarter run and he made three 3′s in the game.

Brook Lopez: C

Lopez had his worst defensive game of the series by far tonight. He could not stop Joakim Noah at all and was not getting any defensive rebounds over Noah, although he did have 8 offensive rebounds and 9 rebounds total. On offense, he was not aggressive at all and most of his points came from easy tip-ins at the rim off of missed shots. He created very little for himself on offense.

Deron Williams: B+

Deron did everything he could to keep the Nets in this game, but he could have used SOME help from his backcourt mate. He finished the game with 24 points and 7 assists and this loss was not his fault.

Joe Johnson: F

Johnson was just awful tonight. He killed momentum by missing shots and was just 2-14 from the field. He missed lots of open looks which would have allowed the Nets to come back and win. This loss WAS his fault.

C.J. Watson: C-

Watson was pretty ineffective off the bench and only scored 5 points. He did not make much of an impact at all.

Andray Blatche: C+

Blatche was not nearly as good as he was in game 6 and he disappeared in the fourth quarter. Still, this guy is a minimum salary guy and he can’t be blamed.

The Nets’ season is over. We won’t see them on the court again until next October.

Joakim Noah and Brook Lopez

The Brooklyn Nets have battled back from being down 3 games to 1 to the Chicago Bulls and have now tied the series at 3 with only game 7 remaining Saturday night in Brooklyn.

As I wrote about earlier, this is only the second game 7 in the history of the Nets’ franchise and they will be going for their first ever win. They will also be going for their first playoff series victory since 2007 when they beat Toronto in the first round. It will obviously be the first playoff victory since the team moved to Brooklyn. After the game 6′s on Friday night, Nets-Bulls will be the only game 7 of the first round of the playoffs.

The Nets have to be confident heading into this game as they try to be only the 9th team in NBA history to win a series after trailing 3-1. Brooklyn is coming off a 3-point victory in Chicago, which wasn’t always pretty, but a win is a win. In that game, each of the Nets’ big 3 of Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and Joe Johnson scored 17 points.

The key for the Nets tonight will be getting a balanced effort from their big-name players on offense and a collectively better effort on defense. Along with the big 3, Gerald Wallace has been one of the keys for the Nets in the series. If he can score around 12 or 15 points, the Nets will be in great shape to win the game. If he scores under 5, the Nets may be in trouble. Defensively, the Nets just need to play smarter. They can’t give up 3-point plays or offensive rebounds as they did in game 6.

Here are the injury updates for game 7. For the Nets, Joe Johnson’s foot continues to bother him, but there is no chance he misses a game. Andray Blatche is feeling better than he did prior to game 6. Every player on the 15-man roster is cleared to play in game 7. For Chicago, it is more complicated. Although he has not officially been ruled out as of now, Derrick Rose will not play. Luol Deng is also doubtful for the game after spending part of his days on Thursday and Friday in the emergency room. He did not fly to Brooklyn with the team on Friday, but there is a small chance he will fly over by himself Saturday morning if something changes with his illness. Meanwhile, Nate Robinson and Taj Gibson are both feeling better after they were sick on Thursday and Joakim Noah’s foot is clearly not bothering him much anymore.

This has been a nearly impossible series to predict, but I’m going to say that the Nets find a way to win game 7 at home in a close, nail-biter type of game, 101-99.

The game starts at 8 pm and will be televised on both TNT and YES. Go Nets!