J-Speaks: Historic Comeback Win By Nets at Kings

There is one word to simply describe the 2018-19 Brooklyn Nets, resilient. Whether it is guys stepping up in place of their teammates who missed games because of injury or how they were once 10 games under .500 and battle back to be right in the thick of the bottom part of the playoff race in the East, the Nets have simply battled and earned their opportunity to be in the postseason this spring. They flashed some of that brilliance in a historic come from behind win in the capital city of California. 

For the first three quarters of their Tuesday night tilt at the Sacramento Kings, the Nets just did not have it and were staring at their third consecutive loss on their season-high seven-game road trip facing a 103-78 deficit entering the fourth period. Head coach Kenny Atkinson tried everything from quick timeouts, expressing his anger to his team about their play, to having animated discussions individually with his players. He even switched the defense from a man-to-man to a zone. 

Behind first-time All-Star D’Angelo Russell and a handful of Nets (38-36) reserves, they turned the tide in a big way as the Nets outscored the Kings (35-36) 45-18 in the fourth quarter for an epic 123-121 win to snap their three-game losing streak and improve to 1-3 on their road trip. 

“We were at our wit’s end, it was kind of desperation,” Coach Atkinson said after the win. “It was a little bit like, ‘Let’s conserve our main guys and kind of play it out.’ I wasn’t expecting an amazing comeback, I just have to be honest. And then slowly but surely we started cutting the lead.” 

Atkinson added, “The coaching was terrible. The zone was terrible. I used up my timeouts. They never responded. We put a group of players out there that have a great bond and a great spirit and were working their tails off behind closed doors. It was 100 percent on them. That’s player ownership.” 

This victory was on the heels of three very tough losses by the Nets to begin their road trip. 

They were outscored 66-44 in the second half in their 108-96 loss at the Oklahoma City Thunder (43-30) on Mar. 13 on ESPN. 

They were absolutely dominated at the Utah Jazz (43-30) 114-98 three nights later, getting out-rebounded them 75-49; outscored them in the paint 48-38 and turned 15 turnovers, nine of which were steals into 24 points. 

In their Mar. 17 tilt at the Los Angeles Clippers, the Nets led by as many 19 (46-27) in the second quarter but a 33-9 run by the Clippers had them behind 60-55 at intermission. They overcame two double-digit deficits in the second half, including a 116-106 deficit with 1:06 left in the contest to tie it up with a 10-0 run, capped by a DeMarre Carroll dunk with 05.3 seconds left. Top candidate for Kia Sixth Man of the Year and the all-time leading scorer off the bench in Lou Williams for the Clippers broke the Nets hearts as he capped his 11-point fourth quarter with the game-winning triple at the buzzer to give the Clippers (43-30) a 119-116 win.  

Russell led the charge in the fourth scoring 27 of his career-high 44 points in the final frame. He finished 17 for 33 from the field overall including 6 for 15 from distance with 12 assists and four steals. 

He outscored the Kings by himself in the final period 27-18 and the game was won on a layup with 00.8 seconds left by reserve forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the longest tenured Net as the Nets rallied from a 28-point deficit in the second half.

RHJ took the inbounds pass from sharp shooter Joe Harris, first looked for Russell, who was doubled and with the clock running down decided to drive to the hoop from three-point range, went around a Kings defender near the hoop to score the game-winner.  

Russell’s epic finish came on the heels of a 17-point first half and having zero points in the third period before he shot the lights out of Golden 1 Center going 10 for 15 from the floor in the fourth quarter with four of his six triples. 

“I give a lot of credit to our bigs,” Russell, whose 27 points in the fourth period are the most in that frame by an NBA player this season said after the win. “They set screens and got me open, got me downhill. Once you get downhill, any player that can get downhill and see the floor like that, and see the rim wide open, the sky’s the limit.” 

To put into context how historic of a win this was for the Nets, this represented the fourth largest comeback in NBA history from 25-plus points down to start the final quarter. 

The Milwaukee Bucks overcame a 28-point deficit (104-76) to win at the Atlanta Hawks 117-115 on Nov. 25, 1977. 

The Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal three-time defending champion led Los Angeles Lakers outscored the Dallas Mavericks 44-15 in the fourth to overcome a 27-point deficit (88-61) after three quarters for a 105-103 win on Dec. 2, 2002. 

The defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers led by four-time Kia MVP LeBron James were leading the Hawks 93-67 at the end of the third quarter and were outscored 59-32 in the fourth quarter and overtime to fall at the Hawks 126-125. 

In the history of the National Basketball Association, the all-time mark for teams behind by that much in the fourth period in the 24-second shot-clock era was 4-3,028. 

Russell also made some individual history on this night as he set the Nets single-season record for threes made with 202, surpassing the 201 made by his teammate Allen Crabbe a season ago. 

This game also represented the third time this season Russell scored 40-plus this season. He joined former Net Stephon Marbury and current Dallas Mavericks guard Devin Harris as the only players in franchise history with 30-plus point, 10-plus assists games back-to-back as Russell had 32 points and 10 assists in the last second loss at the Clippers on Sunday evening. He joined now Hawk Vince Carter and John Williamson as the only players in franchise history to have three games scoring 40-plus on the road. 

In an era thanks to social media where we are quick to be the first to call something like when a professional athlete’s career is over; when a team’s decision to trade, acquire or give on a player way too soon or to decide a team is not good enough to reach the postseason. 

That is definitely the case for Russell who after being selected as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Lakers was such a lost cause after two seasons that they dealt him along with the contract of Timofey Mozgov to the Nets. 

Well Russell’s performance this season, especially the last two games showed he is not only a bonified player in the NBA but will be a very rich one this off-season as he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. 

He showed as much on Friday night with 21 points, 13 assists and three steals in the Nets 111-106 win at the Lakers (31-41), who were officially eliminated from postseason contention. Russell became the first Net since All-Star Kenny Anderson in the 1993-94 season to have three straight 20-plus point, 10-plus assists performances in three straight games. It was also his third consecutive double-double, a career-best, where he has registered a total of 97 points and 35 assists in his last three games. 

The Nets improved with the win at the Lakers to 2-3 on their road trip and dropped the Lakers to their fifth consecutive loss at home and to 1-10 in their last 11 games. 

Williams, said after the Clippers win versus the Nets about his former Laker teammate Russell about being a late bloomer, “He’s not a late bloomer at all. I think people expect you to be a star right away nowadays in this league. This guy’s in his fourth year and he’s an All-Star…So, that’s early to me.” 

What helped Russell is the fact that Coach Atkinson believed in him when his opportunity came this season with the injury earlier in the season to guard Caris LeVert. Russell capitalized on his chance and Coach Atkinson put the ball in his hands, and he took that opportunity and ran with it. 

It also helps that Russell is part of a team building a winning culture where they enjoy being around one another and rooting for one another to succeed, a big difference from what he experienced in his first two seasons in the L.A. 

“I think this says a lot about his character,” future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce said on the Wednesday edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN, “because when you get traded as a No. 2 Pick before your rookie contract that’s like, ‘Wow. They’re already calling you a bust.’ And so, I think just his attitude to like, ‘Look, I want to prove everybody wrong.’ That’s just showing the fire that I want to get better.” 

“For him to do that and become an All-Star in Brooklyn, be part of a whole new culture, the coach believing in him. It’s a combination of a lot of things that sparked the fire under this kid.” 

Being resilient is something that is not easy to be, especially in professional sports. It takes a lot of will, focus and belief in yourself and others to be resilient. The Brooklyn Nets have been the perfect definition of resiliency this season and they showed that on Tuesday night in their epic comeback at the Sacramento Kings, led by D’Angelo Russell. As a result, the Nets will be the ones this season in the playoffs, if they finish this season out right and the Lakers will be the ones seeing their season conclude on Apr. 10. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of  https://www.nba.com/games/20190319/BKNSAC#/boxscore/recap; 3/20/19 ESPN news crawl; 3/20/19 2 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by Kia with Matt Winer, Mike Fratello, and Sekou Smith; 3/20/19 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Paul Pierce, Tracy McGrady and Zach Lowe;  www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/bkn; 3/22/19 10:30 p.m. “Brooklyn Nets versus the Los Angeles Lakers” on Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) with Ryan Ruocco, Sarah Kustok, and Richard Jefferson; 3/23/19 2 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by State Farm with Rick Kamla, Dennis Scott, and Drew Gooden; www.espn.com/nba/standings; https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/20170409ATL.html; https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200212060LAL.html;  https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/19771125ATL.html; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williamson_(basketball,_born_1951).