Nets 88, Knicks 85: Advanced Box & Reaction

Check out the advanced box score from yesterday’s 88-85 Nets victory over the Knicks here.

Some brief takeaways:

If I told you before the game that one team would shoot 12-24 from 3 and the other would shoot 6-21, you would’ve said Knicks and Nets, respectively. Reality is fun.

Winning formula: in the Nets’ two victories over the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony shot under 50 percent (11-24 on November 26th, 11-29 yesterday afternoon). In the two Knicks victories, Anthony shot over 50 percent (15-24 on December 11th, 12-22 December 19th). The Nets employed a fun strategy early on yesterday, throwing unorthodox defenders at Anthony like Reggie Evans and Kris Humphries, who would play a step off Anthony when he had the ball 20 feet from the basket. When Anthony has that daylight, he sees a shot worth taking — and a midrange jumper is exactly the kind of shot you prefer him taking over a three-pointer or foray to the rim. Of Anthony’s 18 misses, 11 came from the short & long midrange areas, including the final 11-foot airball from the right corner over Gerald Wallace.

Anthony also shot just 3-9 from within five feet, and didn’t make a layup in the second half.

Here’s why field goal percentage, as a standalone, is irrelevant: Joe Johnson shot nearly the same percentage as Anthony (8-20), but hit five three-pointers & all four of his free throws, giving him nine extra points and an efficient .574 true shooting percentage & .525 effective field goal percentage. Anthony hit six free throws but just one three, giving him an true shooting percentage of .458 and effective field goal percentage of .397.

The Nets won this game even while only forcing five Knicks turnovers and turning the ball over 19 times themselves. They were a +5 in offensive rebounds despite having far fewer missed shots to chase — mostly because they turned the ball over so much!

Brook Lopez’s rebound rate of 17.2% is higher than any Knicks player in yesterday’s game.

After tearing the Nets limb from limb in two of the matchups between these two teams, Tyson Chandler had an oddly ineffective game — he didn’t terrorize the Nets near the rim, didn’t abuse the Nets in the pick-and-roll, and ended with just four field goal attempts to one technical foul.