4. Brooklyn owned the 3rd quarter
If you really want to torment a Brooklyn Nets fan, just say the words “third quarter” and watch their face contort into a look of sheer agony.
Yeah, it really has been that bad on far, far too many occasions.
That’s what made Sunday night’s blowout of the Philadelphia 76ers that much more savory — the fact the Nets absolutely worked the Sixers in that 12-minute span right after halftime.
Brooklyn entered the second half with a four-point lead, but blew the game open in the third. Jarrett Allen scored 10 of his 15 points in the period, D’Angelo Russell dropped in nine points and as a team, the Nets had their highest-scoring single quarter of the season thus far, 41 points, by the time it was over.
The Nets shot 16-for-25 in the quarter and were 5-for-8 from 3-point range. Brooklyn scored 13 points off Philadelphia turnovers while committing just one giveaway of its own.
The Brooklyn lead hovered between four and six points for the early stages of the quarter before Philadelphia it with its first 3-pointer of the game from Landry Shamet.
Fourteen seconds later, Joe Harris drilled a 3-pointer of his own to give the Nets back the lead and trigger an 11-0 run. The 76ers got it back into single digits on J.J. Redick‘s jumper.
Then Brooklyn did something it doesn’t always remember to do. It got the double-digit lead and this time, on this night, the Nets remembered to step on Philly’s throat and end it.
Over the final 5:10 of the period, the Nets outscored the 76ers by a 31-14 margin. Brooklyn had an opponent on the ropes and finished them with a flurry of punches.
After seeing foe after foe get back up off the canvas and leave with wins, it was great to see that killer instinct kick in.