The Brooklyn Nets and San Antonio Spurs faced off for the second time this season, this time in Brooklyn. This was the second of a back-to-back for the Nets after winning a hard fought, but encouraging, contest across the river against the Knicks the night before. Recently, Brooklyn hasn't had a lot of success on the second half of back-to-backs, but also has struggled this season with teams above the .500 mark. Those, who were hoping to see Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan face off for what could possibly have been for the last time, were disappointed, as Garnett would miss the game due to rest. Tiago Splitter and Patty Mills both remained out of the lineup for San Antonio.
Mirza Teletovic started in place of Kevin Garnett today and made the absolute most of his opportunity. Teletovic scored 26 points, including going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc where he’s struggled as of late. While in Garnett’s position, he did his best Garnett impersonation, racking up 15 rebounds and two assists to add to his stat line.
Bojan Bogdanovic continued doing what he does best – cutting to the rim and being in the right place at the right time. He’s developed chemistry with the team as of late, and he’s become very opportunistic on defense, exploiting defensive lapses, especially in the paint. Bojan earned 14 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and contributed to the rebounding effort with eight boards of his own. Like Mirza, he’s struggled from three-point territory lately, but he looked confident and converted 2-of-4 shots from beyond the arc.
It was another game for Deron Williams where he viciously crossed someone over. D-Will had 17 points to go along with nine assists.
Brook Lopez has been really impressive in his past two games. Brooklyn’s big man scored only 16 but continued to be assertive the way Hollins wants him to be. Lopez continued to rebound and defend well with 15 rebounds and two blocks. His aggressiveness was key in the Nets’ win, as he and Duncan battled the entire game.
How’d they win? With Tony Parker in the doghouse during the fourth quarter, the Nets, who were up by as much as 15 in the second half, followed their usual formula of needlessly complicating their lives by letting the Spurs to come all the way back when Danny Green knocked down a three to tie the game with 2.4 seconds left. There would be no Joe Johnson buzzer beater tonight, as the game went to overtime in front of a mixed crowd of both Spurs and Nets fans. Overtime would give Kawhi Leonard the opportunity to tie the game, but he failed to convert the contested floater. Manu Ginobli tried to save the Spurs’ effort with some late game heroics but also missed a contested three. On the last play of the game, a sloppy position would result in a jump ball with 0.2 seconds left in the game, resulting in Brook Lopez knocking the ball away, and the game ending with the Nets barely edging the Spurs 95 to 93.
The Nets remain at the Barclay’s Center to take on the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, while the Spurs head to Memphis to play the Grizzlies.