By Shara Talia Taylor
The Brooklyn Nets had back-to-back wins against the Atlanta Hawks in their two-game playoff-like series that concluded with a 114-102 comeback victory last Saturday evening at Barclays Center..
The games were important for Brooklyn, who was one spot behind Atlanta in the NBA Eastern Conference Standings. The Nets secured the win, after a lethargic start, as they stepped up defense and made shots with 38 points from Mikal Bridges and a double-double from Nic Claxton.
“They got stops when it was needed and then second half, we just turned it up,” said Interim Head Coach Kevin Ollie about how Brooklyn was resilient even though they were behind at the start of the game.
The Nets defeated the Hawks 124-97 last Thursday. Coach Ollie said during his pregame interview Saturday that Brooklyn needed to be prepared to take their play up a notch with more energy and effort.
“We want to start the game off like we did, hopefully hitting shots, but if not, we’re going to stop them,” he said. “So we want to be sure that we stand on our defense tonight and have that show up early and often in this game.”
The Nets were behind 28-21 at the end of the first quarter, applied pressure and trailed 62-60 by halftime. Brooklyn made shots and had less turnovers. They had four turnovers in the first quarter and one in the second quarter.
“Just the intensity, just everybody stepping up,” Bridges said about what Brooklyn changed defensively after the first quarter.
Bridges also contributed two steals and one blocked shot. He made five of 10 3-pointers.
The Nets intensified defense after halftime. They had two blocked shots in the first quarter and six blocked shots in the third quarter alone. Brooklyn was ahead 90-80 by the end of the third quarter and kept the lead until the end of the game.
Cameron Johnson added 23 points and one steal. He made four of seven 3-pointers. Nic Claxton had his 21st double-double of the season (a team-high). He led the Nets with 13 rebounds and added 12 points. He had two blocked shots, two steals and four assists.
“It felt good,” Claxton said about the new stat. “I feel like I should get a double-double every time I step on the court.”
Unfortunately, the winning streak was short lived as Brooklyn fell to the Memphis Grizzlies Monday night 106-102. The loss dropped the Nets record to 24-37 as they fell 2 ½ games out of the final play in playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Memphis (21-41) had a depleted roster as only 9 players were in uniform. They were without electric guard Ja Morant and veteran Marcus Smart. Still, they dominated the boards out rebounding the Nets 51-33. To make matters worse, Brooklyn missed 17 of 30 free throws in the 4 point loss. Said interim head coach Kevin Ollie, “our effort wasn’t good enough to get a win. The Nets played their fourth straight home game this past Tuesday night when they hosted the Philadelphia 76ers who are still without center Joel Embiid recovering from knee surgery.
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.
