The Brooklyn Nets have a pulse. Saturday’s 91–83 win over top-seeded Atlanta may have been ugly, but it was effective. Neither team shot better than 40 percent from the floor, despite both teams getting plenty of open looks, but Lionel Hollins’s team took control with an 18–0 second half run to get the eighth-seeded Nets on the board. Another Nets win Monday night in Brooklyn and suddenly the best-of-seven series is tied at 2–2.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
For one thing, Al Horford was not on his game—probably due to his dislocated finger. The 6-foot-10-inch Hawks center hit just 3 of 12 shots and a free throw, good for 7 points after dislocating his pinky finger in Game 1. If he’s healed by Monday, it’s another headache for the Nets and Hollins to solve.
Also, how many times can they win with Deron Williams hitting just one shot? The four-time-All-Star has had back-to-back one-hoop games and the Nets, luckily, are 1–1 in those games. It’s not a formula for winning though.
Fortunately, Brook Lopez’s performance is a formula for success. The 7-foot center is averaging 19.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game in the series. And although the Nets dropped the first two, they were both by single-digits.
