SUNDAY
Nets 107
Bulls 115
FINAL
Brooklyn's Effort Puts The Flat in Flatbush
Back at the start of the season, no one could have anticipated Steve Nash putting out a starting five of Blake Griffin, Joe Harris, Bruce Brown, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Kyrie Irving. Yet, there they were, taking on the struggling Bulls who entered Sunday's game losers of six in a row.
Flatbush starters scored just 66 total points. Kyrie Irving scored a team-high 24 points with a game-high 15 assists in 39 minutes. But it wasn't enough. Despite putting up the second most shots among starters, Joe Harris was still a mere 5/11 from the field for eleven points, and that just will not do. Otherwise, Blake Griffin scored ten points with eight rebounds in 22 minutes, and Bruce Brown likewise added ten points in 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, LaMarcus Aldridge scored eleven points with three rebounds and three blocks in 26 minutes. But that is all the Nets need of him. That being said, Nicolas Claxton was given just eight minutes, and for the second game in a row, DeAndre Jordan did not play.
Otherwise, Jeff Green contributed 21 points in 25 minutes off the bench, but the rest of the reinforcements weren't up to the task, accounting for just 20 points in 63 total minutes. Landry Shamet scored 13 points in 22 minutes, leaving little credit for the rest but a detrimental minus-19 while on the floor.
On the other hand, Chicago starters scored 89 points, and the Bulls got another 26 points from the bench. Zach LaVine led the floor with 25 points, and Nikola Vucevic followed with 22 points.
Brooklyn essentially got blown out in the second quarter by a 32-18 margin and went into the half trailing by eleven. The Nets trailed by 17 points after three. Despite outscoring the Bulls 35-26 in the fourth, the Nets lose by eight.
If you're not drawing fouls, you're not trying. Just look at the totals posted by the starting five. Brooklyn collectively failed to get to the line, and the results proved costly. Just three Nets players (none named Kyrie Irving) joined together for 6/7 from the charity stripe, whereas the Bulls were 21/30 from the line for a plus-15 point disparity. The Nets were coming off a two-day break, and it's not like they flew cross country for the game. Thus, I'm left to believe this was perhaps symptomatic of lazy play, plain and simple, and therein lies the difference between the Nets winning and losing.
Having failed to seize upon Philadelphia's loss against Memphis, the Nets and Sixers end the weekend in a first-place tie.
EAST RIVER SHOWDOWN
MONDAY NIGHT
KNICKS vs. NETS
FROM
FLATBUSH AVENUE
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