There are many headlines that could develop for the Nets after last nights triple overtime 120-123 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. With leaders on both teams Devin Harris and Kevin Durant both sidelined someone was going to have to rise to the occasion. The Nets were coming off a tough loss at the hands of their rivals, the New York Knicks, so the question going into the game was how much energy would these Nets have and how would they adjust with Farmar running the floor. Avery Johnson, once again, had a morning shoot-around on back to back games, a new policy of his it seems. He challenged Travis Outlaw and Anthony Morrow to produce more offensively. They both responded greatly as Morrow had 25 points along with 5 rebounds, and Outlaw put up 16 points and 4 rebounds. Lets face it though Nets fans, the real positive story is Jordan Farmar. He posted career high’s in minutes(52) and points(28) along with 9 assists. He proved that when his number is called, he can deliver, as well as become a weapon. He used a bit of Harris’ play style and drove to the basket, which brought defender in and opened up shots for other players. He also filled it up from long range to an extent (3-6).  The team also received a nice game from co-captain Brook Lopez who scored 28 and had 11 rebounds for his first double-double this young season. While the emerging Power Forward didn’t put up many points, he cleaned the glass with 15 rebounds and came up with a couple of blocks as well.

The master os disaster on the opposite side of the floor was Russell Westbrook.  He was the games high scorer with 38 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists. He had all 13 points in the third overtime for the Thunder. With 1.5 seconds left on the clock in the fourth the Nets sent James Harden to the line for  2 as he sunk both for a then 91-90 lead and Westbrook seemed to seal the deal hitting a pull-up with 1.5 seconds left. Out of a Net timeout the question was who do they got to? They went to three point specialist Anthony Morrow who buried it from well beyond the three point arch. It was a huge confidence shot for him as he would post the Nets first 6 points during the first overtime. Though the Net’s had all the momentum the Thunder held their ground, with efforts from not only Westbrook, but Jeff Green who posted a career high in points at 37. He had a big play at the end of the second overtime, with a three point lead the Net’s Stephen Graham fouled green in three point territory while getting off a shot. This was huge as he would sink all three propelling his team into a third overtime where they would eventually put one down in the win column.

After the game Avery Johnson was more than pleased with his team’s efforts, saying “all of our guys battled.” “To come out here and play 50-something minutes on a back-to-back game at the end of four games in five nights, this team is a gutty team. They’ve got a persevering attitude, they try really hard. This game could’ve been over in regulation, but here comes Morrow, who makes a 3.” We know Johnson’s style of play with this team, he doesn’t want them to worry about the scoreboard, but wants them to play in the moment, play hard and have a good time out there. Johnson has been doing a great job with the Nets so far, in my opinion in terms or developing a rotation and helping his players develop their skills to help make the team well rounded. Johnson took the blame for the late-game foul by Graham, stating, “In our system, we like to foul in that situation, but not when the guy is off-balance,” the coach said. “When he’s putting the ball on the floor and they’re trying to run a play, then we can foul. Tough spot for us to be in. We love Graham, though. We wanted to foul, but not quite in that situation.” 

The teams vibes back in the locker room seemed positive especially when asked about teamwork and the effort stat. “You don’t ever want to lose, but you’ve got to continue to move on and grow up from the experience,” Farmar said. “I think we can do that. If we can do that, this will turn into a positive. At the end of the day, it’s one game in the NBA – you play 82, and there’s going to be nights when you don’t play good basketball and you don’t fight and you lose. You really can’t take much out of those games.” Although Kris Humphries reaction surprised, and irritated me as he showed much anger, and didn’t compliment his team. Te told the media after the game “No, we have to start getting wins. At the end of the day there isn’t any asterisk that said they played hard in this game, it was close here. It’s an L or a W. We put ourselves in a position to win and it’s time to win those games.”

The Nets are making very nice progress for a team with 11 new guys, a new coach and who are trying to develop chemistry. The Nets are thrilled to here that Devin Harris’ knee injury is merely a strain, and could be back in as little as two games. Hopefully the team can rebound in their game in Charlotte on Friday.