Recap: Nets 100, Suns 108
That was ugly. Ugly for the Nets, ugly for the Suns, ugly for basketball. Only thing that wasn’t ugly were those gorgeous stars and stripes jerseys the Nets donned.
Brooklyn got off to a poor start behind three turnovers in three minutes and foul trouble for our lord and savior Markel Brown. Markieff Morris and Eric Bledsoe quickly showed that the Nets wouldn’t have a real answer for them throughout the night. The Suns were working Brooklyn on the glass as well. Despite all this, the Nets went on an 8-0 run midway through the first quarter to get back in the thick of things, where the game remained for essentially another two quarters.
Neither team could pull away from the other until Brooklyn went on a massive 25-7 run to close the third quarter behind Cory Jefferson and Bojan Bogdanovic. Stop laughing. Meanwhile, the Suns were on a march to infamy by missing their first 21 threes before P.J. Tucker finally connected on one. It was that kind of game.
Brooklyn’s run gave them a double-digit lead and seemingly control, until a 16-2 Phoenix run to close the fourth quarter sent the game into overtime. Jarrett Jack had a chance at hitting his second game-winner in a week’s time but his long two fell in and out.
JACKPO- aw.
— Brooklyn’s Finest (@BKsFinestTHN) March 7, 2015
Brandon Knight, after making three of his first 15 shots, scored the dagger in extra time to give the Suns the W. On the bright side, the Nets beat the Warriors on Monday!
Grades: Joe Johnson: Johnson just looked tired and unprepared to deal with the Suns’ hybrid fours tonight. Finished with 11 points, seven boards and three turnovers on 5-11 shooting. Very weird to see coach Hollins not play Johnson in crunch time late in the fourth, then sub him in for overtime. D+
Mason Plumlee: Only 13 minutes for Plumlee, three personal fouls in that time. D
Deron Williams: I almost want to give D-Will a pass for his poor play tonight considering he played 44 minutes and had to defend Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe, but, well, 2-16 from the field with four turnovers really isn’t excusable. F
Alan Anderson: When Alan Anderson is a bright spot for your team, things aren’t going well. B-
Markel Brown: Got into early foul trouble, but then this happened.
A+ just for that dunk in an otherwise boring and ugly game.
Brook Lopez: Lopez put in some great effort on the boards and defensively, but shot 6-16 on the other end and allowed the Suns to double him with impunity. Phoenix could leave an open man one pass away and Lopez would ignore him. C+
Bojan Bogdanovic: Bogdanovic was aggressive tonight, which was good. What wasn’t was his inability to finish a layup and overzealous defense in the first half. But what was was his three threes late in the third to propel the Nets out of a stupor. Two turnovers and 4-13 shooting, though. C
Jarrett Jack: The Nets offense seemed to flow better with Jack in the game, but he struggled shooting the ball (3-12 from the field) and looked relatively helpless defensively tonight. Coach Hollins let him play alongside Deron Williams way too much tonight. D+
Thaddeus Young: He’s no lockdown defender and can be befuddled in the post when defended correctly, which is most of what was seen from him tonight. He did finish with 10 points and five rebounds and was a bit of a spark offensively, to be fair. C
Cory Jefferson: 12 points and 13 rebounds in 16 minutes and was one of two Nets with a positive +/-. Please give him more minutes.
