We have an interesting game in here between two teams who are currently fighting for the #5 seed in the East. Brooklyn lost against Dallas yesterday at home, mostly thanks to a terrible third quarter where they were outscored by 14-29. Once again the lack of speed on their wings made the Nets struggle defensively, as Dallas took advantage of that. Not only O.J. Mayo and Darren Collison had good games, as Brooklyn couldn't handle the pressure from Dallas on their ball handlers and ended up committing 20 turnovers. It's almost inexcusable that Deron Williams and Joe Johnson combined 11 turnovers! Not even the fact that Brook Lopez (8-14 FG and 19 points) had a favorable matchup against Chris Kaman was enough for the Nets to win this game.
The Nets will play at Chicago tonight and they can be a bit relaxed in terms of the matchup, as the Bulls don't have an explosive backcourt to expose the Nets's slow backcourt like Dallas did last night. With Richard Hamilton out, Chicago will have Kirk Hinrich, Jimmy Butler/Marco Belinelli and Luol Deng on the backcourt and this isn't a group of explosive players that can attack off the dribble. This is why Brooklyn was competitive in the first two games against Chicago, losing the first game by one point and then winning the second game at home.
Chicago had a nice bounce back win at home last Thursday against Philadelphia, with a monster game from Joakim Noah. Their task was easy due to the Sixers's undersized frontcourt, but Brooklyn has a decent frontcourt unit, so the Bulls will have to play harder tonight. Their spot is better for this contest, but this won't be easy for them, as the Nets can surely turn this game into an ugly and close physical game, like they did in the first two games between these two teams earlier on the season.
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