Nets vs Thunder Recap: Can't Finish

First Quarter: Right after the ball was tipped , Kevin Durant nailed a wide open three taking advantage of a blown defensive assignment. A couple minutes later the defensive specialist Thabo Sefolasha, converted on tho three pointers which was a sign for things to come. On the offensive side for Brooklyn, Deron Williams knocked down a couple jump shots early, keeping up with his aggressiveness. Brook Lopez was clearly missed for the last couple of games. Simply because of the offense relying on jump-shots. Missed jump-shots led to a number of fast-break lay-ups and that lead to a early timeout. Williams made two deep threes which added to his stats, giving him a quick 12 points. His former Olympic teammate Russell Westbrook, was able to do whatever he wanted early. Hitting shots from the inside and mid range which looked to be a major problem. The defense was struggling allowing the Thunder to shoot 69 percent from the field.Surprisingly the game was close. Towards the end, Andray Blatche converted on a "and-1" which brought the crowd into it. Mainly though, the Nets would need a big game from Deron Williams and maybe Blatche to beat the thunder from the looks of things. The quarter ended with Oklahoma City winning 31 to 28.

Second Quarter: Mirza Teletovic and Kevin Martin opened up the quarter trading three's. Jerry Stackhouse made a corner three which ignited the crowd to chant "Brooklyn" but that ended with a jump-shot made by Eric Maynor. Defense was unavailable in the first couple of minutes and Teletovic seemed happy with that. He would make 2 out of 4 shots early. Durant came out with an aggressiveness mindset,scoring on Gerald Wallace which would give him some  fouls.  Teletovic wasn't the only rare sighting in tonight's game. MarShon Brooks came into the game hoping to give the Nets some more offense. He would soon get taken but he wasn't the problem. The nets team defense and offense was bad and it allowed the Thunder to push the lead to 12. Joe Johnson would cut it to ten after the timeout, but the Thunder was still hot. Blatche would woo the crowd with a highlight move but the nets would still be up by 13 and couldn't contain the three time scoring champion. He scored 14 in the second quarter and the Thunder shot  66 percent from the field. Reggie Evans and Brook Lopez were clearly missed and it did not look good for the Nets. They trailed by 13.


Third Quarter: A clear path foul for Durant opened up the second half. Blatche would answer with a easy bucket created by Williams but the Nets seemed to still struggled containing the Thunders offense. Serge Ibaka still gave the Nets trouble with mid range jump-shots.The offensive sets for the Nets struggled creating open shots but they managed to cut down the lead to ten. But again, Ibaka abused the Nets front court and he kept the lead to double digits. In the first half, Westbrook and Durant killed the Nets with more than 30 combined but now it was Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka who would carry on the mission. On the bright side, Deron Williams was still making his shots which would keep the nets deficit to a manageable one. He would net 12 in the quarter with a possible momentum layup which caused Scottie Brooks to take a timeout. Another positive for the Nets was the play of Russell Westbrook.  He would make it into a battle with Williams and he would be taken out with 4 fouls. Gerald Wallace would hit two three pointers bringing them closer,  but Ibaka would respond with a dunk over Jerry Stackhouse. Still, the momentum was on the Nets side and it increased with a Stackhouse three. Wallace seemed to be hot and hit two more threes and bring the game to two. Scott Brooks put Durant back in to to finish the third quarter and he scored easily. The Nets outscored the thunder 38 to 29 but still lead. Gerald Wallace hit 4 three pointers in the quarter.

Fourth Quarter:  The lead would go back up to ten but Williams would keep them in the game with his three pointers. A few minutes later, Kris Humphries would convert on a three point play to bring the Nets within 4. The game slowed down with turnovers and the lead stayed close. Johnson would hit two consecutive shots off the post giving the Nets some hope. For some reason he seems to go astray for most of the game but comes alive in the fourth.  Later in the quarter, their was a controversial play that was ruled a goaltend in favor of the Thunder. The officials looked at the replay and did not change the ruling. On the other hand Nets would get the ball back after a much needed stop. Williams missed a layup and the thunder scored on a second opportunity pushing the lead to 6 with 35 seconds left. They couldn't score and that seemed to be it. The game would end with fouls and free throws, resulting in a lost for the Brooklyn Nets.

Final Result:117-111 Thunder
Most Disappointing Stats of the Game : 20 Fast break points.
Promising Stat of the Game: 40 rebounds to the Thunders 33.
Scary Moment of the Game: Deron Williams grabbing his wrist after a fall in the third quarter.
Best Moment of the Game: Deron Williams converting a beautiful layup on Westbrook.

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