Here are three thoughts on the Nets’ 106-98 win over the Cavaliers in Brooklyn Friday night:
1. Whenever LeBron James is in the building, all eyes are on him, and deservedly so – he isn’t the most fascinating figure in American professional sports by accident.
And from the moment Friday night’s game began, James seemed to be just a little bit off. His stat line, as usual, was superb, as he finished with 24 points, five rebounds, nine assists and five steals.
But James seemed perturbed from the start – first at the refs (he picked up two early offensive foul calls that he wasn’t happy with, and finished the game with an unusually high four fouls called on him); then at the Nets (he got annoyed on a couple different occasions on contact from the Nets on fouls); and then at his teammates (he slammed the ball to the ground after the Cavaliers allowed Bojan Bogdanovic to have an easy driving lane to the hoop in the fourth quarter).
Then, after the game, James made it clear that he wasn’t happy at all with his team’s performance, despite the fact that Cleveland is a near certainty to finish the season with the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.
“You don’t chalk up losses. It’s too hard to win in professional sports. You don’t chalk up none of it.
“We’ll see the ways at the film [session] tomorrow what we didn’t do so well, and how you can get better from that. But it’s too hard in this league to ever chalk up a loss.”
James, like everyone, has his days where he’s just a little bit off, and this was one of them. Fortunately for the Nets, he was never quite able to get he and his teammates all on the same page, allowing the Nets to come away with a massive win.
2. This was yet another game where Bojan Bogdanovic proved how vital a weapon he has become for the Nets off the bench.
On a team that has clearly lacked in 3-point shooting all year, having someone like Bogdanovic who can both knock down an open shot and create for himself off the dribble has become a huge boost for the Nets since the All-Star Break, particularly given that they won’t be having Mirza Teletovic return from his blood clots this season.
Bogdanovic is now averaging 11.3 points per game since the All-Star Break while shooting 39.3 percent from 3-point range – the kinds of numbers the Nets envisioned he would be putting up when they brought him over from Fenerbahce Ulker last summer.
Given where the Nets are in the standings, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
3.This was certainly an unexpected win for the Nets, as anyone realistically looking at this game heading into it would have said the Nets were sure to wind up with a loss.
But, now that the Nets have won it, they can’t afford to let Sunday’s game here against the Lakers get away from them – and the same goes for Tuesday’s game here against the Pacers or Wednesday’s against the Knicks at the Garden.
Realistically, if the Nets are going to make the playoffs, they will likely have to sweep these three games, both because they can’t afford to lose to teams as pathetic as the Lakers and Knicks and because a win over the Pacers gives them the tie-breaker, while a loss means they would lose tie-breakers to the Heat, Celtics and Pacers – leaving them a nearly impossible hill to climb given to pass at least two of those teams and make the playoffs.
Plus, given a closing schedule that includes games against the Raptors, Wizards, Bucks, Trail Blazers and Hawks (twice), the Nets are going to have to win every winnable game remaining in order to try and squeeze their way into the postseason.