• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

January 22nd 2016

Utah Jazz 108 Brooklyn Nets 86

 

On the eve of the first major snowstorm in the tri state area the Brooklyn Nets welcomed the Utah Jazz to the Barclays Center. Both teams were coming off losses, the Jazz, two overtime losses, their last to the Knicks and the Nets were on a four game losing streak. The Nets have only won one game since the team made a coaching change on January 10th.

 

The Jazz fresh off their overtime loss to the Knicks looked to leave New York City with at least one win. They started off slowly and were down 12-2 very early in the first quarter. However led by their big gun Gordon Hayward and second year swingman Rodney Hood they went on an 8-0 run in the first period to cut the deficit to one. Hayward had 10-points in the opening period and really set the pace for his team. One of the keys of the game coming in for the Jazz was rebounding and in the opening period they won the battle 14-8 with 11 of those boards on the defense end. Derrick Favors (Utah Jazz) did not play tonight against his former teams, (Nets) he sat due to a lower back issue. Trey Lyles started in his place. The Jazz were down 23-22 at the end of the first but things would change drastically.

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Gordon Hayward during warm-ups. Photo Sherman Gomez PureSportsNY

 

 

The Brooklyn Nets started this game with a lot of energy. They had a bounce in their step and seemed to be in for a good night on the offensive end of the floor. On the first possession of the game the Nets went to Brook Lopez and he delivered and that seemed to energize the rest of the team. Joe Johnson had 6-point early in the period and seemed to be aggressive offensively and looked like he would come out of his shooting slump. They moved the ball well and player movement off the ball led to 8 assists in the period. The Nets led after the first but things would also drastically change for the home team.

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Joe Johnson pre game…Photo Sherman Gomez PureSportsNY

 

 

The second and third period doomed the Nets, the Jazz scored 26-points and 37-points respectfully in the two periods. They shot 72.7% in the third and really put the game out of reach early. The Nets went ice cold after the first quarter scoring 17-points in both the second and third quarter. The Nets just could not score the basketball tonight. Thaddeus Young said it simply, “ they made shots, we didn’t.” It was a little more than just the Nets not scoring tonight, they were outrebounded by 16 tonight, they had crucial turnovers to start the 3rd period and they just seemed to lack effort. They continued the trend of poor starts to the second half of games.

 

“They made shots, we didn’t.” – Thaddeus Young

 

 

Brook Lopez had a pedestrian 8-points and 3 rebounds, he only played 19 minutes as the outcome of the game was pretty much determined by the middle of the third when the Nets were down by as many as 31points. Lopez finished the game with only 8 field goal attempts, the Nets failed to establish his presence early, bringing him back in after they were down by 31 would be fruitless. After a strong first quarter Joe Johnson only scored 2 points for the rest of the game. Thaddeus Young had 10-points and 2 rebounds. The Nets got some scoring off the bench as Bogdanovic had 14-points and Willie Reed contributed 12-points. One bright spot for the team was the play of Sergey Karasev he finished with 9-points and showed some of what he can bring in the minutes that he played. Coach Brown alluded to Sergey’s play in the 4th quarter; he “really liked what he did in the 4th quarter.” Brown elected to play guys off the bench in light of the huge deficit.

 

“By no means our best effort, I’m a little disappointed in how we played… All I can do is keep encouraging them…”- Coach Tony Brown.

The Nets lacked effort tonight, the turnovers led to easy baskets and their lack of scoring in the third period put the game away early. At the end of the 3rd Gordon Hayward finished a fast break with a one handed dunk, which led to cheers by the home crowd that turned into boisterous booing. Hayward finished with a game high 21 points and the Jazz left New York City with a win. Rudy Gobert added 10-points 7 rebounds and 3 blocks for the visiting Jazz. The “Steiffel Tower” protected the rim tonight, as his match up against Brook Lopez was one of the keys to the victory for the visiting team. Trey Burke added 12-points off the bench for the Jazz.

The Nets dropped their 5th straight game; they will look to rebound from this loss when they host Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the rest of  the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday January 24th 2016. Due to inclement weather in the New York City area this game may be postponed stay tuned to PureSportsNY for updates.

Twitter: sherman@shermangmz1

Email: shermangmz1@gmail.com

Title Photo: Julie Jacobson AP Photo

By Sherman Gomez

"Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court." "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller." "Last week messed around and got a triple double." I write about basketball sometimes and then I try to go play....

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