Well, the Nets ended the first half with a 48-46 lead, but the Lakers really started to defend like they are capable of, and the Nets were only able to put up 36 in the second half. A lot of people are going to say the Lakers took the Nets too lightly in the first half, and maybe they did on the defensive end, but you can’t knock the Nets’ defensive effort in the first half, especially in the 2nd quarter where they gave up only 17 points. Courtney Lee played very good defense on Kobe (only 11 in the first half), and CDR did a great job stifling Ron Artest, who seemed to struggle all game. It’s funny, the score looks a lot like last night’s Raptors’ game, but the effort (and the way that I feel was much different).
- Devin was the Devin of old in the 2nd quarter, going 7-7 from the field, and scoring 17 points. He finished the game with 21 points on 7-11 shooting.
- Kobe Bryant is really good, he went for 29 on 12-23 shooting. A lot of his shots were well defended too, but he is just so freakin’ good. Oh, and he is playing with a broken finger on his shooting hand.
- CDR had a very nice game on the offensive end (20 points), but maybe more impressively on the defensive end. Late in the game though, CDR sprained his ankle and it looked real bad. Its good that the Nets only have 7 games in the next 18 days.
- The Nets’ offense dropped off in the second half because of the Lakers’ D. They turned up the intensity, and they didn’t allow the Nets to get in the lane, where they did their damage in the first half.
- Terrence Williams got 3 garbage minutes, but that was it. I think Kiki is trying to protect him though. He is a young guy, and the Lakers’ defense is very good on the ball. You don’t want T-Will do resort back to jump-shooting mode, which is something that could happen if he played a bunch of minutes tonight.
- Keyon Dooling returned for a few minutes. He hit a three though, showing he is still a threat from the outside.
- I think I found something in Courtney Lee’s mechanics, check back Monday for that.
