There's no doubt that the Brooklyn Nets just played one of the team's best games of the season.
They narrowly beat the Raptors 131-129 in overtime at home to achieve a three-game winning streak. The Nets made a lot of mistakes in this game, they made 16 mistakes, and the third quarter let the opponent shoot down 44 points. Their opponents are also not such a strong championship team, and the Torontoman is only 11th in the East.
But this game has nothing to do with those, because the Nets only have 8 people to play, and they are simply desperate beasts. Just a day before the team announced that Millsap triggered a health and safety agreement, people have begun to have a hint of concern. As a result, less than 12 hours before the start of today's game, the Nets fell 6 people in one breath! First Aldridge, Bemburig, Javin Carter and James Johnson triggered the deal, and the Nets dropped two starters and an important bench rotation. Shortly before the game, Harden and Bruce Brown also triggered the agreement, and they did not qualify for today's battle! Counting Irving, who has not yet returned to the team, and Joe Harris, who is still recuperating from injury, the Nets can't play a total of nine people.
"At some point before the game, I glanced at Thiago (Split), do I still use a shoe change? Can't fight today? "Then we quickly got together and talked about it, and everybody meant, 'Come here, let's go up and play, and enjoy the game.'" ’”
According to the NBA league, a team must have at least 8 players to play to meet the conditions of the game, and in the end, the Nets have exactly 8 players to play. They didn't put Durant on a truce because of a sore right ankle, but chose to trust the remaining 8 players. The eight are mills and Durant, who start regularly, Clarkston and Cameron Thomas, who have made steady rotations, Griffin, who once fell out of rotation, and three rookies who have rarely had a chance: David Duke, Daron Sharp and Kessler Edwards.
9 people can't play, 8 people can play, 4 rookies, 2 two-way contracts, this is the nets tonight's full combat power, anyone seems to be more like a night of fighting and retreating. Witnessing such a lineup, you no longer need to analyze from the perspective of technical tactics, rotation and use is not important, the available people are dispatched, and the state is good to play more, which is as simple as this.
"We have 7 guys who can't play, and we can give up this game." Durant spoke bluntly after the game, but he was followed by a sentence, "But what we see is an opportunity to get better." ”
Yes, the Nets didn't give up, and there doesn't seem to be a word in their dictionary. People kept complaining that Nash had kept Durant and Harden on the floor for too long, complaining that they didn't control players' playing time as tightly as other teams did. But at the same time, we've also seen Harden and KD repeatedly emphasize that they don't want to rest, they want to continue to fight on the court. This team is stubborn, competitive, or more official, and they have a heart that will never admit defeat.
So we watched as the Nets packed the entire first half with the vibrancy of the youngsters. Sharp came off the bench for five minutes to spell out three offensive rebounds, and Edwards and Duke went all out to tear the Raptors apart after coming on the court. Two quarters later, the Nets led the Raptors by 10 points, with a 66-point score tie to the team's first-half scoring record of the season! The three youngsters, Clarkston, Sharp and Edwards, spelled out nine rebounds in the frontcourt, and the team's 10 offensive rebounds were the record for any half this season. Facing the Raptors, the most capable of snatching shots in the league, the Nets also made two more shots.
Offensive rebounding was the Nets' weakest link, while the Raptors were second in the league, but the Nets won. Fewer shots than opponents are the Nets' biggest problem, while the Raptors are the strongest, but tonight the Nets have 2 fewer shots and 4 more free throws, almost equal to each other. Fast-break attacks aren't the Nets' specialty, but the team scored 20 quick-ons in the first half and 24 points. This is not the familiar Nets, you will be blown by this storm of youth adrenaline soaring, you can't help but issue such an exclamation: "Victory or defeat is no longer important, playing like this is enough!" ”
So when the Nets lost 19 points 25-44 in the third quarter, people felt that their momentum was over. Yeah, the Raptors this night weren't bad at all, they hit 18 three-pointers across the team, VanVleet and Trent Jr. combined 12 of 26, and the two had a lot of anti-aircraft guns that were against defensive hits. Siakam seized a lot of one-on-one chances, and he scored 25 points on over 50 percent shooting. And the No. 4 show Scotty Barnes has once again cut the 20+10 data after a month and a half.
The Nets inevitably ran into a lack of firepower, with 11 of the 25 points in the quarter coming from KD, 8 points being Griffin shooting two three-pointers, Duke and Thomas, two young backcourts who shot 0-of-5 without a single point, and rebounds in the front court seemed to disappear with the decline in vitality. Watching Durant's playing time has exceeded the 30-minute mark, you will naturally feel, "Give up and forget it."
But when the final quarter began, Durant was still on the court. We've seen this scene too many times, and when the Nets were behind in the third quarter, Durant refused to rest. But tonight's situation is particularly special, in the case of such a broken lineup, KD still have to fight hard? "Whatever I need to do, I try to do it. I just want to play, I want to play, I want to win. Durant said after the game. It's not like a veteran who's had a serious Achilles tendon injury, or a historical superstar with a high status, it's more like a big boy who simply plays with a leather ball and just wants to win.
So Durant played the last quarter, and the overtime game later, so the Nets changed their lives again under the leadership of the main general! Mills scored four three-pointers in the final quarter, including a high-quality 3D in the final quarter, including a draw to force out overtime; Edwards became the high-quality 3D that people imagined, attacking and defending, and the projection was stable; Duke couldn't hit long shots, but he became an iron gate, constantly blocking the Raptors' backcourt; and Griffin's defense and key passes. When the game went into overtime, everyone knew durant would play more than 48 minutes, but no one was worried about his rest, everyone was thinking, let's try to win this night!
The Barclays Center at that time had been completely ignited, and the energy there was not lost to Madison Square Garden, which witnessed the record moment. Durant pulled three consecutive mid-ranges in overtime, Mills hit a difficult drift shot, David Duke fought for the 13th rebound, the 6th offensive rebound, and then sealed the victory with 2 free throws!
A win that can be sung and wept, it is like a microcosm of the Nets' game this season. This is an offensive team that was seen as extremely talented before the season, but it is a defensive team that has been constantly fighting in the mire after the start of the season. They don't win beautifully, they're tired, they're scary, but they never give up, they do everything they can to win.
Let's forget about fatigue and injury for a moment, and sing the praises of this night, no matter what, this is the basketball you want to see most, the battle that never fails.
So we rarely saw an ecstatic KD who celebrated like he had won a playoff life-and-death battle, and hugged every teammate. It wasn't a significant victory, but it was a victory worth celebrating at everything. "I'm so proud to be a part of this team, that pride is hard to describe even in words, and it's fantastic to be able to fight with these young people on the pitch." Durant admits he's broken tonight, though he can't remember when he last appeared with four rookies.
Flip through the data and you'll see a lot of amazing stuff. Durant had 34 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, becoming the first player in The Nets' history to cut a 50+ and then have a triple-double, and his playing time is 48 minutes and 11 seconds, the longest single-time playing time since leaving the Thunder. Mills made his Nets first and NBA career 30+, and he made 7-of-14 shooting from beyond the three-point line for his fourth single-game 7+three-pointer of the season. Duke had 10 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and two blocks, Edwards had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and for the first time in Nets history, two rookies in the same game cut a double-double. Griffin had 13 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, with a team-burning floor ball, and Clarkston had 16 points and 7 rebounds to do the points. But when watching the game, you don't even realize the data, because every action everyone makes is to win, not to fill in something in the data field.
This win won't put the Nets in history, or let them win any trophies, rings or flags, but its value is unmatched. If the Nets didn't have a clear label before that, they now have one that reads "a bunch of idiots who never say die." (Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Kong Dexin)
Source: Sports Weekly All Media