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| 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.
