Martin Luther King day match between the Brooklyn Nets (24-16) and the New York Knicks (25-13). Madison Square Garden is tonight's location, where the Knicks are 14-5, looking to gain a 3-1 advantage of the Nets in the season series. Brooklyn fans are hoping for the 2 all series tie.
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| Madison Square Garden, seconds away from tip-off. |
First quarter shows the promise of a closely contested game between these two teams, The Nets winning the quarter 26-23, despite the fact they turned the ball over 7 times compared to the Knicks, only once turning the ball over. Tyson Chandler picked up his seventh technical foul of the season, the explanation given, "trash talk", after his big slam early in the quarter. Carmelo Anthony was doing a bit of everything for the Knicks, 3 assists, 8 points, 1 rebound and a questionable block was added to his stats after he clearly fouled Stackhouse. For the Nets Joe Johnson was lighting it up, 4 of 4 from the field including three 3 pointers (one from way down town) totaling 11 points for the first quarter. Arguably one of the best point guards in the league, Deron Williams had a quiet 5 points in the quarter, making 2 of them at the free throw line, pushing his streak to 50. 55 straight free throws is the current Nets record.
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| Brook Lopez |
Start of the second and the Knicks continued to shoot poorly, finishing with a poor 36 percent at the close of the half. The only things keeping them in it are the Nets continuing to turn the ball over with 11 turnovers in the first half compared to just 2 for the Knicks. In the past 3 encounters with the Nets, Melo has got it done offensively scoring 35, 45, 31. He started to heat up towards the end of the half, making his last 3 jumpers and bringing his total up to 18 points, putting him on track for another big game. JR Smith needed to get going for the Knicks, shooting a woeful 2-9 making up just 5 points. In the other locker room, Humphries had 12 minutes off the bench, putting up 9 points and 8 rebounds. The Knicks played loose on him, leaving him open in the paint for easy buckets.They needed to tighten up on him defensively. Joe Johnson cooled down, missing all four of his shots in the second, bringing his percentage down to 50, however he did make 2 free throws bringing his points up to 13. Brook Lopez started to make an impact, 11 points with a fantastic 5 of 6 from the field. D-Williams finished the half with 7 assists, more then the entire New York team who had just the 5 assists. In order to stay in the game, the Knicks needed to start moving the ball and getting more than just Anthony going offensively. Going into the third, Knicks trailed 47-41.
Start of the third and Deron Williams proved he could do more than just pass the ball, knocking in a couple 3's to start the second half. He continued his great play throughout, dropping a few more dimes, bringing his assists up to 10. Knicks continued to struggle at the start of the half, shooting very poorly. The crowd started to get involved after an unlucky travel call against Amar'e Stoudemire (yes he did take 3 steps, but tell me a player who doesn't on the fast break). JR Smith slowly started to heat up, knocking down a few jumpers, but the turning point for the Knicks was Jason Kidd. 5 steals in the game, he also came up with the momentum swinging play, taking a hard hit from Gerard Wallace to get the charge call, which led to a jump shot from Smith, bringing the Knicks within 1 and the crowd right back into the game. Carmelo Anthony continued to get the job done, 27 points and 5 assists at the close of the quarter. Add 15 turnovers by the Nets and a 10-0 run, the Knicks led by three after winning the quarter 27-18. Brooklyn 65 New York 68.
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| JR Smith finished with 16 points (7/18) |
Both teams looked sloppy at times throughout the fourth, neither team able to take a good lead or put the other team away. Down the stretch, several big players had chances to take the lead for their team but seemed to crumble under the pressure. Melo missed a base line jumper. Kidd missed a free throw that could have brought the Knicks back within one. Then on the other end, Deron Williams missed a free throw (also cost his chance at the Nets record, his streak ending at 52) that could have put the Knicks away for good. With a few seconds left JR tried to tie it up with a 3, but narrowly missed it off the bank. Nets hang on to win 88-85, the go ahead jumper going to Joe Johnson, who came up big for the Nets in the final quarter. Johnson finished on 25 points, 8/20 shooting (5/8 from deep) to go along with 5 assists. Whilst Kris Humphries only scored once in the second half, he walked away with a double double, 11 points and 13 boards. Brook Lopez also finished with a double double, 14 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks credited to his name. However, the stand out player for the Nets was Deron Williams. 14 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists closed out a stellar night for him. For the Knicks, Melo was clearly the best player but it seemed for most of the game he was out there by himself, his teammates showing up too late for this one. He finished on 29 points and had a season high in assists, picking up 7. JR finished on 16 (7/18 - not bad considering how he started the game) and Amar'e was just behind him with 15. Whilst Melo gets most credit offensively, full points to Jason Kidd for his 6 steals and efforts defensively to try and bring his team the win.
Brooklyn turned the ball over an astonishing 19 times, compared to just 5 turnovers for the Knicks. Yet despite this fact, the Knicks still didn't get the job done, spending most of the game trailing. Steve Novak never really showed up to the game, taking just 3 shots and missing them all. Everyone expects more from him than that, but everyone has a bad night and I'm sure he will bounce back. The 3 point line has been a great aid to the Knicks this season, but Brooklyn stole the show tonight, shooting 12-22 from down town. Add that to the massive rebound difference and the real wonder is why Brooklyn didn't win by more (the obvious answer being turnovers). Still, Brooklyn with a solid performance to tie the season series at
2-2.
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