119-118, the Brooklyn Nets won on the road to the Washington Wizards to avoid a losing streak. After this game, the Nets' record came to 28 wins and 16 losses, equalizing the Miami Heat, but due to the difference between the two sides, the Nets could only be relegated to third place in the East, and then, the Nets will fly non-stop to San Antonio, against the Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves in the West, the last 4 consecutive games, although Kevin Durant is injured and can not play, but fortunately Kyrie Irving can play.
After the narrow victory, the Nets coach was shelled! Nash continued to curry favor with Owen, and Harden became a scapegoat.
In this game, although the Nets won, but their performance was not too satisfactory, in the first quarter of the game, Irving and substitute LaMarcus Aldridge supported the Nets' attack, Irving in the first quarter of 7 shots 5 in a single quarter cut 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal, it can be seen that Irving, who has participated in team training and played with the team, he can maintain a very good state, Irving can still come up with star-level performance. In addition to Irving, Aldridge was substituted in the middle of the first quarter, and he scored 10 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal on 5-of-5 shooting in 6 minutes. With Irving and Aldridge playing, the Nets scored 33 points in the first quarter, five points ahead of the Wizards.
In the second quarter, the Nets' firepower was still undiminished, James Harden had 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists on 3-of-5 shooting in the single quarter, Irving was still efficient in the second quarter, hitting 4 of 5 shots to get 10 points, Aldridge also had the efficiency of 3 of 4 in a single quarter, the Nets bombed 41 points in the second quarter, and at the end of the half, their lead came to double digits.
After the half-court adjustment, the Nets' offensive efficiency began to decline seriously, Harden only hit 1 goal in 6 shots in the third quarter, Irving only scored 4 points in a single quarter, Aldridge also began to drop in shooting rate, the Nets only scored 23 points in the third quarter, before entering the fourth quarter, the Wizards did not let the point difference continue to be opened, and the two sides entered the final quarter with an 11-point difference.
The Wizards began to explode in the final quarter, and they briefly chased the deficit to one point in the middle of the fourth quarter, but the Nets still maintained their lead thanks to Aldridge's brilliant play in the last minute. In the final moments of the game, the Nets had a huge crisis, Harden broke through the layup and was blocked, the Wizards had the opportunity to kill, and Kyle Kuzma got the ideal three-point shooting opportunity, but unfortunately, Kuzma's three-point shot did not hit, the Wizards got the rebound after Dinwiddie did not hit the three points, the Nets escaped the disaster on the road, took a valuable victory.
The referee was a bit of a steal in this game, neither side was flattered, and there was a round where the Wizards passed the ball from the sidelines, and when Dinwiddie gave Kuzma a pass, Nets assistant coach David Vanterpool reached out and touched the basketball, causing the ball to go out of bounds.
Looking back from the slow motion, the Nets' assistant coach did reach out and touch the ball, this kind of court personnel affecting the behavior of the game, according to the rules, light technical fouls, heavy expulsion, but the referee did not show anything, but instead awarded the ball to the Nets, in a game so close to the score, these returns are enough to affect the outcome of the game.
After the game, Wizards acting head coach Joseph Blair gave an interview to the media and publicly questioned the behavior of shelling the Nets assistant coach, which he believes has never been seen and intolerable after working in the NBA for so many years. And the referee's decision is incredible.
However, after removing this round, the Wizards really did not seize the two opportunities to turn the final defeat into victory. The end is set, and there is no point in saying that now. Harden's performance in this game is difficult to accept, he shot 7 of 21 from the field, including only 5 of 0 from outside the three-point line, and only got 18 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Although the quasi-triple-double data looks quite good, Harden's offensive efficiency in this game is indeed very average.
In the fourth quarter, Harden attacked the basket 4 times, only 1 goal hit, only got 2 points and 1 assist in a single quarter, his plus-minus was only -8, and during the game, Harden was also hit in the head when he broke through, but the team's coach Steve Nash did not react to this.
"We did a good job of defending and defending allowed us to win. Plus, I don't think Harden is okay. Nash said in the interview. In addition, Nash also continued to curry favor with Irving in the interview, saying that Irving's performance is really excellent and it is his honor to coach Irving on the road.
I have to say that the treatment of Harden and Irving is really very different, against the Cavaliers, Harden's thigh injury, Nash thinks that Harden is not a big problem, Nash does not have any attitude when Irving performs poorly, and plays well to please, Irving has made clear his position of not vaccinating, should Nash consider letting Harden rest, even if he pays some loss.