Brooklyn Nets: Top 10 Moments of 2016
By Tj Porreca
1. Sean Kilpatrick Scores 38 in Double-OT Win Over Clippers
On November 29, 2016, the Brooklyn Nets authored their biggest win of the 2016-17 season to this point, and their best moment of 2016.
The Nets, then a four-win team, hosted the 14-win Los Angeles Clippers, one of the best teams in the NBA at the time.
The game was a thriller in multiple aspects. Despite being without Blake Griffin, the Clippers got 26 points and 13 assists from Chris Paul, 21 points and 23 rebounds from DeAndre Jordan, and 18 points from J.J. Redick.
Brook Lopez scored 27 points for the Nets, while Trevor Booker and Joe Harris each added 15. But the Nets were led late by Sean Kilpatrick, who scored a game-high 38 points, to go along with 14 rebounds.
Between regulation and two overtime periods, Kilpatrick played a game-high 47 minutes. 31 of Kilpatrick’s 38 points came in the fourth quarter and two overtime periods.
Kenny Atkinson commended Kilpatrick, who stayed confident and resilient despite a slow start to the game. “Sean kept at it and kept competing, got a few shots to fall and he started rolling. He did a great job,” Atkinson said after the game.
The Nets were blown out earlier in the season in Los Angeles, and Brooklyn was mindful of that experience, Kilpatrick said. “We went to L.A and [the Clippers] got us bad,” Kilpatrick said. “That stuck in our minds … it’s huge for us to win a game like that in double-OT. For us to sit here and gut it out like that is huge.”
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Kilpatrick is a great story. He went from un-drafted to Brooklyn’s starting shooting guard. Seeing as the Nets use “Brooklyn Grit” as their team slogan, it’s only fitting that Kilpatrick was the star of the show during the best moment of 2016.