BROOKLYN NETS

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or stranded in space), you’ve heard about the exciting news this week. First, the Brooklyn Nets ended their eight-game losing streak against the best team in the league. Second, Marvel Entertainment dropped the first official trailer for Avengers: Endgame. Now, this article will be spoiler free, but if you haven’t seen it yet, I would recommend you go watch it. But, hopefully, I’m not the only one who noticed how nicely the two complimented each other either!

Y’all thought I was talking about the #AvengersEndGame trailer. But I was talking about our losing streak. Great win! https://t.co/nXWsBqiEA1 — Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) December 8, 2018

Saturday night, however, would have the Nets attempt to snap another streak they would rather not hold. They entered the game having lost their last 33 road games on the second half of a back-to-back. The struggling New York Knicks would present the perfect opportunity to break that streak which has held strong since 2015.

The Nets were clearly riding their momentum from last night as they out-hustled the Knicks throughout the first half, enjoying an 11-3 advantage in offensive rebounds. They made good on those extra possessions by shooting 42.9% from three-point range, allowing them to take a double-digit lead into halftime.

After exorcizing one of their demons last night, the normal trepidation associated with the Nets in the third and fourth quarters was somewhat lessened. Coming out of the break, Brooklyn pushed the pace and their lead to 19 as the Knicks struggled to keep up.

The game looked like it would be an easy one to close out as the teams traded baskets back and forth. Of course, nothing with the Nets is ever easy. The Knicks’ bench started to eat away at the lead as the fourth quarter drug on in classic fashion. Head coach Kenny Atkinson subbed in his starters to attempt to stop the bleeding, but the Knicks continued their attack.

Thankfully, a Rondae Hollis-Jefferson layup followed by a timely Allen Crabbe three-pointer, both set up by D’Angelo Russell, pushed the lead back up to 10 for Brooklyn with the time continuing to tick away.

For once, the Nets would hold on to the lead for the rest of the game, mostly thanks to some outstanding offense from Spencer Dinwiddie and impenetrable defense from Hollis-Jefferson. Two nights, two broken streaks. For maybe the first time since Caris LeVert went down, Nets fans can breathe a little easier. The skid down the standings has been stopped and the Knicks have been put back in their place.

The world has been saved — well, relatively speaking…

In the spirit of unquenchable hype — both for the Nets’ new win streak and the Avengers trailer finally dropping — now, onto some superhero-themed grading.