Game 13 Recap: Nets 96, Knicks 88 (OT). The One Where The Crosstown Rivalry Began

Reggie Evans was everywhere, doing everything last night for the Nets.

The last Nets playoff game was a May 18, 2007 loss in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team featuring LeBron James before the whole "Taking my talents to South Beach" thing. However, the game the (Brooklyn) Nets played last night at Barclays Center was probably more intense than that loss to Cleveland and wasn't even an elimination game in the NBA playoffs. It was just the first-ever regular season game between the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks, which just happened to be played in Brooklyn. 
 
The game was hotly contested right out the gates at Barclays as expected, as each team started out pretty hot from the field. Defense was mainly nowhere to be found as the home-team Nets managed to eke out a three-point lead after the first frame. Surprisingly, in the second quarter, mainly the Knicks bench-- shorthanded without backup point guard, and former Net, Jason Kidd, due to back spasms--outplayed the normally-reliable Nets reserves, as the Knicks won the quarter and took a lead into half. Contributions were varied, with Melo hitting a few shots, Tyson Chandler and Marcus Camby controlling the paint, and even the ageless Rasheed Wallace draining a deep three-pointer, sending the Knicks supporters at Barclays into a frenzy.

Then came the dreaded third quarter. In the ten games before this past homestand--so the games before this week's wins over the Clippers and Blazers--the Nets were a disgrace in that quarter, blowing games left and right with terrible performances coming out of the halftime intermission. That was not the case last night, even though the quarter didn't get off to the best start for the home team. Melo was unstoppable in the third, hitting jumpers and getting "fouled" when driving to the hoop constantly. Of course, the airquotes are necessary as the Syracuse product got away with more push-offs than I have probably every witnessed in my life. Regardles, Melo was so hot even Gerald Wallace couldn't stop him.

Game 12 Recap: Nets 98, Trail Blazers 85. The One Where Reggie, Brook, and Hump Got All The Rebounds

With every game he plays well in, Joe Johnson is looking more and more like a steal for the Nets

Winning their fifth-straight game at Barclays Center, the Nets rebounded (literally) from a bad first half effort to blow away the undermanned Portland Trail Blazers in the second half. Missing All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland didn't have a key cog in their lineup, but that didn't stop them from jumping out to a four-point lead at half behind rookies Damian Lillard and Meyers Leonard in addition to J.J. Hickson and Wesley Matthews as well. Luckily for the Nets, those guys cooled down after the intermission and Brooklyn's guys heated up. 

The third quarter woes that plagued the Nets during some of their earlier losses this season have been thankfully absent from the last two games, counting this afternoon's game of course. In the third quarter, D-Will came out with a vengeance, the vengeance that he expresses with intensity during close games in which he feels he has to take over. That's what he did right out of the break, driving at the rim fiercely on the undersized Lillard, first getting an easy layup, missing the next one, and then getting blocked. Maybe he didn't get the results he wanted from those drives, but the tone was set for the Nets, and that led them to even up the score by the end of that quarter just to run away with the game in the fourth.

Game 11 Recap: Nets 86, Clippers 76. The One Where The Third Quarter Wasn't So Bad

Ever since the Nets traded for Joe Johnson over the summer, the shooting guard hasn't played like himself. Tonight, he certainly did.

If the Nets had any bad tastes in their mouths from their losses to the Lakers and the Warriors, then there aren't there anymore, because of how they completely shut down the Clippers in Brooklyn tonight. The Nets improved to 7-4 on the season with a win over one of the better teams in the Western Conference in a fashion that has been uncommon to them this year: They played good defense and were actually not-awful in the third quarter.

Ok, to be clear, the Nets didn't play great defense the whole game, just in the second half. They were down by a score of 47-40 at half and things didn't look too promising. The uber-athletic Clipper frontcourt duo of Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan dominated the first half, throwing down alley-oop dunks, grabbing offensive boards, and just making the Nets look bad most of the time. Just about the only thing going the Nets' way in the first two quarters of the game was the offensive output they got from Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez. Lopez's offense has been great the whole season but Joe's hasn't, making his early shooting accuracy a pleasant surprise.

Game 10 Recap: Warriors 102, Nets 93. The One Where Klay and Curry Were Unstoppable

Prediction: This guy's (Klay Thompson) face will be the subject of my next nightmare

If you looked up the definition of "gut-punch loss" in the dictionary, you would find a picture of a wide-open Klay Thompson swishing a three-pointers about 10 feet in front of Joe Johnson. Of course, that picture would be indicative of the complete and utter crap show the Nets decided to feed up tonight in Oakland against the Warriors. Once again, the Nets played a great first half, going up 46-41 after 24 minutes of play. During those first two quarters, our boys from Brooklyn closed out on the Golden State shooters, made plenty of open shots, rebounded well, and cut down on turnovers. Then came the dreaded third quarter, that stretch of 12 minutes between the second and fourth quarters in which the Nets simply can't do anything right. No ball movement or player movement on offense, lazy and low-percentage jump shots, horrendous/non-existent defensive rotations, and unfathomably idiotic turnovers.

Tonight was absolutely no different. For the most part, the Nets stopped driving into the paint for high percentage shots on offense and turned into the solely jump-shooting team we have come to despise from the New Jersey days. The Nets missed a ton of those jumpers and, conversely, the Warriors made nearly all of theirs. Granted, the dreadful perimeter (or lack of) defense exhibited by the Nets certainly contributed to Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry going off in the second half, credit should be given where it's due. Regardless of how bad Brooklyn's defense without Gerald Wallace is, it's clear that those guys can shooting the lights out, altering the result of a game in the process.

Game 9 Recap: Lakers 95, Nets 90. The One Where D'Antoni Made His Debut

It was easy to tell that Deron wanted to win last night's very badly. The Nets probably would have if he could have hit a few more shots.

If a moral victory is actually a legitimate thing, then the Nets probably had one last night against the Los Angeles Lakers. A win in the standings? Something they did not have. However, Brooklyn showed that they could match up with and compete with one of the NBA's premier teams in the Lakers by coming back from an early 10-point deficit right off the bat to take the lead throughout much of the second half, just to slowly lose it late in the fourth quarter.

The Nets certainly looked outmatched in the beginning moments of the game, as they committed four quick turnovers in the first four minutes, pressured by the hounding Los Angeles defense. It was surprising that the Lakers--in the debut of new, solely offensive-minded head coach Mike D'Antoni--played so well on the defensive side of the court early on but the turnovers could also be attributed to a Nets squad that was rushing in their sets, making boneheaded and lazy plays, and simply playing like the New Jersey team, one prone to countless amounts of inept stretches of basketball. After a timeout by Avery Johnson, though, Brooklyn came back with a purpose and rattled off eight points in a row to come within two. The game stayed close throughout the rest of the first until Kobe Bryant hit three jumpers in a row to expand the LA lead to six points.

Then, in the second quarter, the Lakers' main weakness was shown as their bench promptly coughed up their lead and the Nets got hot from the field, scoring 34 points in the period to go up a point at half. As usual, the Nets' "bench mob" or "Brooklyn Zoo" (credit Twitter for both awesome nicknames) picked up the slack, with C.J. Watson hitting a few threes, Andray Blatche hitting a few shots in the lane, and, of course, Reggie Evans rebounding nearly everything in sight. Solid second quarter performances also came from starters Brook Lopez and Deron Williams.

Game 8 Recap: Nets 99, Kings 90. The One Where Blatche Went Off

22 points, 11-12 shooting, 20 minutes. Yep, this Andray Blatche. Yep, the guy who was amnestied this summer. Yep, the guy who was sent home by the Wizards last year because of his lack of conditioning.

Another weird, sloppy, and competitive game, another win for the Nets. Brooklyn extended its season-long winning streak to five games by taking care of the hapless Sacramento Kings at the terribly-named Sleep Train Arena (which I thinking should just be called The Sleep Train, in the vein of The Soul Train). It certainly wasn't pretty--we seem to be saying that about a lot of the Nets victories this season--but it goes on the left side of the W-L column which is all that mattered.

The Nets went to the paint for scoring throughout much of the first half, feeding Brook Lopez the ball a bunch early on, and he went to town against DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson. Brook faded away after the first 12 minutes of play and only ended up with 13 and a measly five rebounds on 5-14 shooting. Fellow starting big man, power forward Kris Humphries, was an afterthought on offense, taking just six shots and scoring six points. The real story of tonight's win was a backup forward who possibly had the game of his career.

Andray Blatche was simply unconscious from late in the first quarter to late in the third. Blatche, who I mentioned as a player to watch in my preview, couldn't miss anything. He hit his first nine shots--a miss of crafty layups, drives, and some admittedly low-percentage jumpers too--and scored 18 points by halftime, basically leading the Nets to a 33-22 second quarter by himself, hitting all six field goals he attempted in the quarter. The Nets constantly went to him to build up the lead they would nurse throughout the second half and he responded to the extra burden, attacking the rim with no mercy for anyone in his way. In one word, Blatche was unstoppable, and that's no exaggeration

Game 7 Recap: Nets 102, Celtics 97

Reggie Evans may seem laid-back and calm in this picture, but in the game--especially when rebounding--he's downright terrifying. Also, very good at rebounding.

The Nets don't really like to put teams away, it seems. Yet again, they jumped out to an early double-digit lead and let their opponent right back into the game via some terrible defense, isolated offensive "sets", and a simple lack of hustle. Frankly, they got lucky that the Celtics--especially Jason Terry and Paul Pierce, normally good free throw shooters--couldn't hit a shot from the charity stripe when the game was on the line. Maybe it was the ominous "BROOK-LYN, BROOK-LYN" chant, maybe Avery Johnson's bizarre fouling-while-leading-with-more-than-30-seconds-left strategy, who knows what caused the normally-automatic free throw shooters Paul Pierce and Jason Terry to miss a combined 2-6 from the line in the final quarter. It sure was a weird game, but it was a Nets win, and that's all that matters.

Brooklyn's 5th win of the season started off like many others so far this season. The Nets started off the first quarter hot on offense, spreading the wealth and draining a bunch of shots very quickly. Of course, the defense wasn't very good but the team ended up taking a 5-point lead after the first 12 minutes by a score of 31-26. The second-team picked up where the starters left off and extended the lead to 59-50 by half. Then came the patented letdown that has accompanied basically every Nets double-figure lead this season. Via a combination of horrid Nets shooting, classic Boston passing and court spacing, and improved Celtics rebounding,  Doc Rivers' team stunned the home team in the third quarter and grabbed the lead right back by the end of the period.

Game 6 Recap: Nets 114, Cavaliers 101

The Nets simply had no answer for Varejao tonight. Thankfully, him and the Cavs had no answer for the Nets either.

For the sake of an analogy, the Brooklyn Nets are like the lead actor in a play, possibly even a Broadway one. Lead actors in plays are very talented and draw the audience in with their dramatic dialogue and actions. People root for them when they are the hero, people root against them when they are the enemy. The point is that they are captivating. However, they can also be really loud and annoying, in addition to having off days from time to time. In these circumstances, the audience is expecting a lot from the lead actor but instead gets a dud of a performance. The Nets are very much like this.

How, you might say, could a basketball team be like an actor in a play? Well, like an actor, the Nets have tons of natural talent which will propel them to many leads and big wins this season. They also have their fair share of duds, exemplified by the many blown leads and the pair of notable crushing losses they have had so far this season. Tonight, we saw both sides of the Nets, good and bad. Good in that they moved the ball around on offense masterfully the entire game, leading to 27 (!) assists and 114 points. Good in that they shot 54.5 percent from the field, only committed 13 turnovers against one of the NBA's best teams at forcing turnovers, and even blocked 10 shots. Bad in that they allowed 101 points to the Cavs and career-highs to both Kyrie Irving (34 points) and Anderson Varejao (35 points on 16-21 shooting).

Game 5 Recap: Nets 82, Magic 74

21 rebounds? 21 rebounds

The first quarter was beautiful, the last three quarters were ugly, and the game's result was a win. The Nets swept their first home-and-home of the season--this one with the Magic--by jumping out to a huge, 18-point lead after the first quarter and riding that advantage to a victory over a listless Magic team that, without many of its top players, couldn't do much on offense on Sunday afternoon, a fact leading to its demise.

The Nets looked great starting out of the gate earlier today at Barclays Center, moving the ball around masterfully and playing sound all-around defense en route to taking a 35-17 lead after 12 minutes of play. At this point in the game, the Nets looked to be headed to another game that would play out similarly to their 39-point blowout win on Friday night. However, that would not be the case.

The second, third, and fourth quarters turned the game from a potential rout in Brooklyn's favor into a slogfest that included horrendous shooting percentages, too many fouls, and plenty of sloppy play. Orlando slowly chipped away at the once-comfortable Nets lead by holding the home team to just 36 points over the next two quarters, cutting their once 18-point deficit to just 10 points by the beginning of the fourth.

Game 4 Recap: Nets 107, Magic 68

The Nets needed a win in the worst way when they took on the Orlando Magic last night at Amway Arena, and they ended up getting it in rather comfortable fashion. A far cry from their 30-point loss on Wednesday night against the Heat, the Nets turned the tables and became the router instead of the routing, crushing the hapless Magic by nearly 40 points.

Not getting off to the best of starts, the Nets only led by a score of 19-17 after a first quarter in which they played similarly to how they played in the losses to the Timberwolves and Heat. They looked sluggish, played sloppy, were ice-cold from the field amongst other things. Then, Brooklyn picked it up in the second quarter and were given a major boost by the bench, a unit that has been surprisingly productive early on this season. Even veteran Jerry Stackhouse--who was signed this offseason as a pseudo-assistant coach who would also get limited playing time in games--made his season debut in the second frame and played out of his mind, hitting a couple three-pointers and ending the game with 11 points in just 10 minutes, in addition to posting a spectacular +21.

Game 3 Recap: Heat 103, Nets 73

Gerald Wallace missed last night's game due to the injury he suffered in the Nets' win against Toronto. He was sorely missed against the Heat.

Without having the ability to watch last night's Nets blowout loss to the Heat, I had to listen on the radio. Let me tell you, it sounded almost as bad as it must have looked for those unfortunate to have watched. The Heat, clearly the class of the Eastern Conference and the NBA, had their way with the Nets--still without Gerald Wallace, their best defender--who stayed competitive during the first half, but faded away quickly in the second.

Miami won the game how you thought they would; incredible ball-handling (25 assists to Brooklyn's 12), knockdown three-point shooting (10-24 to the Nets' 3-21), and by pesky defense and stellar forcing-of-turnovers (forcing 19 to be committed by the Nets while only committing 12 themselves). Positives to note: Tornike (Toko) Shengalia finally made his Nets regular season debut (two points and two turnovers in 12 minutes), Kris Humphries finally showed up (11 points and 11 rebounds), MarShon Brooks scored 12 points off the bench, and Brook Lopez even grabbed seven rebounds in only 21 minutes.

Looking Ahead
The Nets travel upstate and play the Magic in Orlando at Amway Arena on Friday night, hoping to return to .500.

Game 2 Recap: Timberwolves 107, Nets 96

It took a crazy fourth quarter collapse at the Barclays Center on Monday night to drop the Nets' record to 1-1 on the young season and to send a jubilant Minnesota team home with a shocking victory. We all knew the Nets wouldn't go 82-0 but regardless, the first loss of any new season is crushing. According to the logic, last night's loss was simply devastating. 

Losing a game which you led by a score of 71-49 in the third quarter--at any time in the season--is awful and terrible and bad and horrific and bad. As my poor grammar and sentence structure show, the Nets' meltdown at the hands of the T-Wolves was inexplicable and stunning to those in attendance in Brooklyn, like myself. Cutting the Nets lead to 86-75 after the third, Minnesota went off in the final quarter, outscoring the home team by a tally of 32-10 and sending the crowd and Nets home in a daze, wondering: "What the f*** just happened?"

Well, simply put, what happened to let the T-Wolves back into the game was a mix of offensive isolations and stagnations and non-existent interior defense by the Nets and incredible offensive execution by Minnesota.

Game 1 Recap: Nets 107, Raptors 100

At some points, especially later in the game, the Nets' help defense was phenomenal, like in the picture above. At other points, like in the 1st quarter, that wasn't the case.

One regular season game in Brooklyn, one win. That's the way the Nets, their fans, and coach Avery Johnson like it. In their first-ever regular season game as the Brooklyn Nets, the Nets beat the divisional foe Toronto Raptors in a game that was exciting, entertaining, nerveracking in a Nets fashion, but also downright fun. Sure, it's only the first game of the year against a team that probably won't make the playoffs, but it's still a win. And any win for the Nets of the past few seasons was monumental. Hopefully last night's triumph is a sign of change.

A win didn't look to be in the immediate-future for the Nets after the first quarter of action Saturday night since the Raptors jumped out of the gates fast, and took a 35-27 lead after 12 minutes of play. In those 12 minutes, the worst fears of those surrounding the Nets for this season were realized: the defense was terrible, offense mostly stagnant, and the fast pace of the game' tempo made the team look discombobulated all around. However, a paradigm shift arose after that poor first frame and the Nets appeared to wake up, got some great contributions from their bench players, and snared a 60-52 lead by halftime, after a second quarter in which they outscored Toronto by a score of 33-17.

For the most part, the Nets were in control from the beginning of the third quarter until the game clock buzzed after 48 minutes of play. The game could have been easily put out of reach by Brooklyn in the third period as they climbed to a 73-59 advantage on a Deron Williams three-pointer with 6:56 remaining. A few defensive stops and effective offensive possessions could have tilted the game' balance in only the Nets' favor but no, the Raptors hung around for a little bit longer. Cutting the deficit to six points after the third quarter, Toronto seemed poised to steal a win from the new-look Brooklyn squad and inched within two points of the Nets a few times in the fourth but just couldn't get over the hump to take the lead. A Brook Lopez three-point play with just 59 ticks left sealed the deal beyond any doubt.

Preseason Game 6 Recap: New York Knicks 97, Brooklyn Nets 95 (OT)

With a 22-point game in just 27 minutes, it looks like D-Will has finally found his shooting stroke, a stroke that wasn't present much of last season and even in this year's preseason as well.

A missed MarShon Brooks lay-up with the few seconds of overtime ticking away sealed the Nets' fate in their last preseason game for 2012 at Nassau Coliseum with a loss against that team in the "other" borough, the Knicks.

Wednesday's game was, simply put, determined by runs and streaks. The Nets had the first one in their favor, leading by a score of 23-16 after the first quarter. The Knicks had the next run, a more extended one, overcoming the Nets lead in the second quarter, held the lead by halftime, and then added on to that lead in the third quarter. The Nets shot back in the fourth quarter, going on a 17-3 run from 7:37 left in the quarter all the way until there was just one minute remaining in the final period, when Brooklyn held a 86-84 advantage. Just a few seconds later, two Chris Copeland free throws tied up the game at 86, sending it into that dreaded preseason overtime.

In the extra session, the Knicks' reserves overcame those of the Nets, on the strength of a few three-pointers by Steve Novak and Mychal Thompson. Those shots led to MarShon Brooks having the ball with one, maybe two, seconds remaining in the game. Then, Brooks, who was possibly fouled on the play, saw his potential game-tying layup rim out and the game end. The loss ended the Nets' recent three-game losing streak, which neutralized their three-game winning streak to start the preseason and evened up their record at 3-3. At least these games don't count.

Preseason Game 4 Recap: Boston Celtics 115. Brooklyn Nets 85

We didn't think they would win every game this season, right? The Nets got their butts handed to them on Thursday night at the Barclays Center by a Celtics team looking for revenge after they lost to the Nets in Boston two days ago. Thankfully I didn't have the chance to watch any of this game, because the box score looked pretty gruesome. At least we have another shot to rid ourselves of this awful effort that beckoned to the Nets' failed history in New Jersey on Friday back at the Barclays against the 76ers. Ugh.

Looking Ahead
The Nets stay at home and play Philadelphia in Brooklyn on Friday night. Let's hopefully get this terrible taste outside of our mouths against another divisional rival.

Preseason Game 3 Recap: Brooklyn Nets 97, Boston Celtics 96

The Nets certainly couldn't stop Paul Pierce tonight, but that didn't stop them a great win, one that improves their undefeated record so far in the preseason.

Halfway through the Nets' preseason slate, and they still haven't lost a game yet. That undefeated record was continued tonight in Boston as the Nets' back-ups and reserves, essentially,  beat the Celtics' starters. Since Avery Johnson wanted to give all five of the starters from Monday's win a day off for rest and recovery, five second-line players started for the Nets on Tuesday and did extremely win. Even though Paul Pierce managed to score 29 points for the game, and 20 in the 1st half alone, the Nets played good enough defense to keep them in the game and to even garner a lead late in the 4th quarter.

A few Nets made team debuts tonight and helped in the winning effort. Tyshawn Taylor, whom the Nets traded for on Draft Day this past June, returned from a quad injury to score 6 points and dole out 5 assists in 17 minutes of play. Also, veteran Jerry Stackhouse and Georgian (the country) import Tornike (Toko) Shengalia, who scored 4 and 11 points respectively.

In addition to those making their Nets debuts on guaranteed contracts, some of the team's non-guaranteed training camp invites made their team debuts (not including summer league) as well. James Mays and Stephen Dennis each played their first games with the Nets with Mays being the more productive of the two. The third of the Nets trio of non-roster training camp invitees that have never played in the NBA, Carleton Scott from Notre Dame, got a few minutes in the Nets' game in Atlantic City and collected 7 rebounds tonight, to go along with 5 points.

Preseason Game 2 Recap: Brooklyn Nets 98, Washington Wizards 88

Deron Williams, in Monday's win. He looked to distribute, instead of focusing on scoring for the Nets, which worked out pretty well.

Hey Brooklyn, ask and you shall receive. You wanted a winning NBA team, and for at least just Monday night, that's what you got. The Nets, wearing their slick road black jerseys, opened up their new home with a well-played win over the short-handed Wizards at the Barclays Center. After a sluggish 1st quarter, one in which they were losing after 12 minutes of game action, the Nets picked up the intensity and effort, clinging on to a two point lead by halftime. The 2nd half of action was much better for Brooklyn as they started to hit more shots, played better defense, and started to attack the rim more effectively.

First off, before getting into the game, let's talk about the Barclays Center during its first night of operation for an actual NBA game. The crowd wasn't as large as I thought it would be, as there were plenty of empty, jet-black seats. However, the people that were there, myself included, managed to make a lot of noise throughout with chants and cheering, something that gave the Nets a tangible home-court advantage throughout. A thing that has been lacking in New Jersey, with the majority of the fans at the game caring little about the on-court action. It's clear that's different in Brooklyn.

The crowd rose and fell with how the Nets were doing at that point in the game; cheering and chanting when they had momentum after one of Andray Blatche's monstrous jams and quietly enervating when a young Wizards team jumped out to a quick run in the 3rd quarter, cutting the Nets' lead to 1. Then, after the Nets barely clung onto a miniscule lead from that point in the 3rd into the 4th, the intensity and urgency of the Nets picked up, mirroring that of the crowd, especially those in the upper reaches of the Barclays. That lead was all for naught with 9 minutes left in the final quarter, as a Jordan Crawford jumper put Washington up by 1.

Preseason Game 1 Recap: Brooklyn Nets 108, Philadelphia 76ers 105 (OT)

A rare pic from the completely unbroadcasted game (via NetsDaily.com). Wouldn't you think that a team's 1st game ever would get covered by the TV station they earn a lot of money for (that being the YES Network)?

I'll keep the debut (preseason) game recap of the year short because all my knowledge of tonight's win is derived from ESPN's box score and tweets from writers/bloggers who were at the game. Supposedly, the Nets' starters did extremely well as they outscored the 76ers by a score of 58-37 in the 1st and 3rd quarters combined (those are the quarters in which the starting-five were together on the floor the most). Each of the Nets' starters (other than Kris Humphries for unknown reasons) played at least 26 minutes with every one of those 26-minutes+ players showcasing extremely solid statlines. However, the most important stat of note from the game was Brook Lopez' nine rebounds.

So after most of the starters came out after the 3rd quarter ended, the Nets held a pretty comfortable 79-64 lead. Then, in the 4th quarter, the worst happened. The Nets bench couldn't really score (16 points in the 4th on 6-18 shooting) and didn't play much defense either (gave up 31 points on 9-15 shooting). You do the math, and that leads to a dead-tie after the period, with both the Nets and the 76ers at 95 points apiece. You ask what the worst thing to happen in a preseason game other than an injury is? Overtime.

Well, in the extra five-minute overtime session, the Nets' reserves outscored the Philly reserves 13-10, leading to a final of 108-105, in Brooklyn's favor of course. An Andray Blatche jumper with 27 ticks remaining put the Nets up 106-105, and C.J. Watson finished off the scoring with a few free throws after a missed Nick Young jumper. Young also missed a three-pointer with 2 seconds left to seal the 76ers' fate and to give the Nets the 1st win in Brooklyn Nets' history.

Game 66 Recap: Toronto Raptors 98, Nets 67

Goodbye New Jersey Nets, and hello Brooklyn Nets. In the last game ever of the new Jersey Nets franchise, an oddly-mixed collection of NBA and D-League players took the floor for both the Raptors and Nets, both teams decimated by injury. I guess the Toronto collection of guys, led by former Net Ben Uzoh and his first career triple-double, just wanted the meaningless win more than the people (not good enough to be a team) they faced at the Air Canada Center.

Other than the official farewell to the New Jersey Nets--which kinda sounds weird now---this game didn't hold much intrigue. However, the loss did help the Nets leapfrog the Raptors in the lottery standings, giving New Jersey/Brooklyn a slightly better chance of landing in the 3-spot and enabling it to keep its pick from the Trail Blazers. Tanking at its best! Plus, I know I kept tonight's recap short but don't worry as Brooklyn Balling will have more analysis and commentary on this past Nets season and what is ahead. Also, the next time we will see a team resembling the Nets will be in October of 2012, in a preseason game possibly at the Barclays Center. See you then Johan Petro!

Game 65 Recap: 76ers 105, Nets 87

Goodbye Prudential Center and as Chris Christie said, good riddance.

Well, that was a fitting end to the Nets' extremely unsuccessful New Jersey existence. An extremely undermanned Nets squad stayed close throughout with the playoff-bound 76ers but just faded away late. The final score was an aberration for how this game played out much of the night in the last time the New Jersey Nets, or any other team for that matter, played a game in the state of New Jersey itself. It was a very emotional night at the Prudential Center as the team honored a bunch of former Nets at the half-time, some of which have passed on, have fallen on hard times, or are even in playoff situations with other teams.

Back to the game. Just needed a win or Milwaukee loss to clinch the 8th-seed in the East (they got both by the way), Philly raced out of the gates to a big 25-11 lead in the 1st quarter looking like a team that didn't want to just back into the playoffs. However, the Nets didn't want to roll over in their last home game in New Jersey and fought themselves back into the game in the 3rd quarter, cutting the 76er lead to one at the 3:44 mark of the period on a Gerald Wallace jumper.

Wait, you didn't think that the Nets would be able to sustain that intensity for the rest of the game right? Well, if you thought that then you would be wrong. By the end of the 3rd, Philly had built a 76-68 cushion and held onto that lead for the last 12 minutes of the game until blowing it completely open in the waning minutes of the Nets' New Jersey experience. Truthfully, what more could you expect from a team missing so many key players due to injury.

As always with this team, there was a lot negative to last night's game but there was a silver lining as well. First off, I think we've found our replacement for the extremely unreliable Sundiata Gaines and his name is Armon Johnson. The Nets' recent call-up from the D-League scored 10 points in 23 of play off the bench last night but his best contributions couldn't be quantified in the box score. He played great defense on Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday (combined for 9-24 shooting), ran the offensive sets well without mistakes (just one turnover), and even picked up the intensity and effort of his fellow teammates.