Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Live Notes

Tonight, your New Jersey Nets take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Prudential Center. I will post my thoughts at the end of each quarter.

First quarter:

Very ugly start from the Nets. Terrible defense.
The Nets are not respecting Donald Sloan’s shot at all. They are allowing him wide open shots from the perimeter. Sloan has missed 2 jumpers.
It’s time for the classic matchup of Shelden Williams vs. Samardo Samuels. Samuels almost tackled Shelden underneath the basket.
Oh wow. Lester Hudson has scored 8 points in a row for the Cavs.
Morrow has scored 10 points in only 4 minutes of action. He’s knocked down threes early in the shot clock.
Wow, the Nets’ defense is SO bad.

Lester Hudson has just picked up his 3rd foul. Goodbye, Lester.
This is a classic Nets – Cavs second quarter. Not very watchable.
And we have a lane violation. Soo Nets – Cavs.
Samardo goes 1 for 2 from the line, J Will goes 0 for 2.
MarShon Brooks has played a lot of point guard tonight. It’s an interesting experiment and it’s not a complete failure. MarShon has made some nice plays, but has dribbled and turned the ball over too much.
Gerald Wallace hustles after a ball the Cavaliers give up on and passes to Deron Williams for an easy lay-up. Such a classic hustle play from Wallace.
The Nets defense has kind of just fallen apart. They gave up two straight fast-break layups which cut the lead to 6 and they used a timeout.
Gerald Wallace just had a huge dunk and got injured. Classic Nets. I think he will be ok. It was a great dunk, though.
At the end of the first half, Nets lead 56-48. The offense was very good, especially in the second quarter, and the defense improved from the first to second. Green and Morrow lead the way with 13 and 10 points respectively. Jamison has 14 for Cleveland.

Third quarter:

Gerald Wallace will not return to this game. He was injured in the first half.
With 9 minutes left in the third quarter, the Cavs have somehow tied the game. The Nets have not played well early in the quarter. However, Green just hit a 3 to give the Nets the lead back.
Antawn Jamison is really killing the Nets. He already has 24 points! The game is tied at 65.
Deron Williams is out of the game with 4 fouls. Gerald Wallace will also not return to this game. Sundiata has checked in and I expect the offense to die.
Wow, Sundiata, I’m shocked. When Sundiata entered the game, it was tied at 67 and I thought the Nets were going to fall apart. Instead, they went on a 9-0 run.
Sundiata just air-balled a jump shot. I’m still happy enough with how he has played.
At the end of the third quarter, the Nets lead, 76-71. I’m surprised they have been able to maintain the lead with the Wallace injury and the Deron foul trouble. It would not shock me to see the Nets blow this lead in the fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter:

Morrow now has 20 points. He has been excellent so far.
I don’t know how the Nets are still leading in this game. They aren’t playing very well at all.
The Cavs have cut the Nets’ lead to 2. Nets call timeout. I expect Deron to return to the game after the break.
Antawn Jamison just ran into his own man and Deron got an easy steal and dunk. The Nets lead by 2 with under 3 to go.
Deron missed a layup, but Shelden tipped it in. Nets lead by 2 with 90 seconds to go.
In a tie game, Green hits a wide open 3! Nets lead, and Mikhail Prokhorov is loving it. Green has 28 points.
Lester Hudson hits a 3 with .3 seconds left. This game is likely going to OT. Hudson has 28 points and 6 3’s. This game is a joke.

Overtime:

Green has 30 after an alley-oop from Deron to give the Nets a 4 point lead with 3 1/2 minutes left.
Shelden Williams has made some good plays recently. He is getting tough rebounds.