Games in November don’t have a playoff atmosphere… usually. But every once in a while there is an exception.
And this was it — Brooklyn’s first home game against the Knicks may have been in November but New York fans were treating this like a hockey playoff game. There was constant chanting like a Brazilian soccer game. The fans of both teams were into it.
And they got an entertaining, playoff intensity game. They got November execution — it was sloppy at points — but some real intensity.
And Brooklyn got a 96-89 overtime win.
For the Nets, it is really is just one-of-82 on the schedule but is a nice win for the psyche of the franchise as it works to establish its foothold in the New York market.
For the Knicks, the reasons they lost this game down the stretch are trends that have emerged at points this young season, things they need to clean up as the season wears on. These things are the difference between the Knicks as threats to the Heat and the Knicks that get in the first round again.
For one, there was bad shot selection — Raymond Felton kept gunning despite a Bargnani-like 3-of-19 shooting night. He had good moments setting up Tyson Chandler on the pick-and-roll, but as the game wore on the Nets dared Felton to take the shot and he did. And he kept missing — he was 1-of-10 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
It wasn’t just him taking and missing shots late, Carmelo Anthony had a nice line of 35 points (on 11-of-25 shooting) plus 13 rebounds for the game. But he had 9 points on 2-of-9 shooting in the fourth quarter and overtime as he went with more isolation plays that led to a couple key misses. He fell back into old habits. Oh, and he missed a couple key free throws.
The real bright spot in the Knicks offense Chandler, who had 28 points and 10 rebounds, running a great pick and roll with Felton and having a signature putback dunk. But if Chandler is your offensive bright spot it’s going to be a rough night.
Still, in the second half the Knicks shot just 7-of-24 in the paint as a team.
Then there was the Knicks defense getting exposed. The Knicks switched the pick-and-roll most of the night and Deron Williams made them pay to the tune of 16 points and 14 assists. The Nets did a great job of running a Deron Williams pick and roll with Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace, getting the switch then having those guys back down Felton and get a good look. They did that all night and made runs with it, like the 9-1 one at the end of the third quarter that got them back in it.
The other thing that killed the Knicks was losing guys who cut off the ball — all night long Nets players got good looks just by cutting away from the ball and their defender losing them. Down three inside three minutes to go the Nets got a key bucket when Brook Lopez made a run, Chandler tracked the ball and the result was an easy layup. Lopez finished with 22.
There was also some bad Knicks pick-and-roll moments and apparently Jerry Stackhouse was wearing a cloak of invisibility because the Knicks didn’t see him get open for the corner three all night long (he was 4-of-5 from three and had 14 points). There also was terrible defensive rebounding as the Nets had 18 offensive rebounds (35.5 percent of their missed shots).
The Knicks are not crisp on defense like they were last season, and if they don’t get that focus back this year’s playoffs will look like last year’s. But there is a long time between now and then.
Same with the Nets, who had a rough defensive start to the season but held the Knicks to 96.2 points per 100 possessions. They keep that up and keep scoring and the playoffs could last a while in Brooklyn.
We’re a long way from that for both teams. But the Nets got the win they wanted and both sides got some lessons to work on for the months ahead.