Snowed under at Barclays

BROOKLYN – It wasn’t supposed to snow. The winter season had officially ended. Spring was back and folks in the East Coast looked forward to less drops in temperature after experiencing below-zero weather in one of the freezingest winters ever. Officially, spring began last March 20 and leads to summer on June 20.

But on the night the Brooklyn Nets faced their cross-town rival New York Knicks at the Barclays Center here last Tuesday, snow fell from the skies. It hadn’t snowed in New York in over three weeks so this was a surprise. The day before, the temperature went down to 15 degrees Celsius but while the Nets were being blown away by the Knicks, it plummeted to 0.55 under a sheet of snow. Fans, who were forewarned by weather predictors, left the Barclays Center wearing gloves, overcoats or fluffy jackets and scarves.

It wasn’t thick snow that fell, the flakes were of the baby kind. The powder was evident on parked cars. On lawns, the snow was just a thin layer and by the next morning sun, the traces were gone. The freakish spring snowfall was similar to what happened inside the Barclay Center when the Nets were buried under an avalanche of baskets by the Knicks. New York was no longer in contention for a playoff spot while Brooklyn hovered between fifth and sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Coach Jason Kidd started the game with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Andrei Kirilenko, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams. The Knicks countered with Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Raymond Felton, J. R. Smith and Iman Shumpert.  New York superstar Carmelo Anthony was out with a torn right labrum. Andrea Barganani and Kenyon Martin, who probably won’t be back in the Knicks roster next season, also didn’t suit up. New York is expected to undergo a major revamp in the offseason with new team president Phil Jackson who recently came to terms on a five-year $60 Million deal.

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Four of the game’s first five baskets were three-pointers, a portent of things to come. The regular season was about to end and the Nets weren’t close to their best competitive form. Besides, there was talk that Brooklyn would be better off losing to drop to No. 6 in the East and arrange a first-round playoff showdown with Toronto instead of dangerous Chicago. As it turned out, the Nets lost 109-98 to the Knicks and worse, dropped a 114-85 decision to Cleveland to finish the campaign with back-to-back defeats. Coupled with Washington’s final push for four straight wins, the Wizards ended up No. 5 to face Chicago and Brooklyn No. 6 to meet the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs.

The defeat to Cleveland was so uninspired and almost deliberate that Kidd benched Williams, Johnson, Pierce and Garnett. Kirilenko came off the bench as the sixth man. Kidd gave Marquis Teague, Marcus Thornton and Jason Collins (who recently came out of the closet in a public admission of being gay) their first starts of the season with the Nets. Gilas’ upcoming naturalized player Andray Blatche got his seventh start and Mexican guard Jorge Gutierrez booked his second start. Gutierrez, by the way, will play for Mexico at the FIBA World Cup in Spain but if Blatche makes it to the Philippine cast, they won’t face off. The Philippines is in Group B with Argentina, Croatia, Greece, Puerto Rico and Senegal while Mexico is in Group D with Angola, Australia, Korea, Lithuania and Slovenia.

After losing to Cleveland, Kidd said, “I like right where we are, a good place.” It was a virtual confession to tanking. If Brooklyn beat Cleveland, the Nets would’ve clinched No. 5. The Bulls appear to be more difficult to hurdle than the Raptors. Chicago was Brooklyn’s nemesis last season, ousting the Nets at Barclays Center in Game 7 via a 99-93 verdict. The Nets were down 1-3 but recovered to win Game 5 at home and Game 6 on the road only to bow out with a whimper. Kidd will never forget the nightmare and that’s probably what drove him to choose Toronto instead for a first-round pairing.

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Against the Knicks, the Nets played listlessly even as they had more rebounds, 50-42, and more assists, 25-15. New York ended the first quarter with an 8-0 blitz, capped by a Tim Hardaway, Jr. triple. The Knicks were clearly more aggressive and hit 34-of-40 free throws compared to the Nets’ 22-of-31. New York also had the edge in more triples made, 11-of-21 to 10-of-25 and less turnovers, 16-19. One of the Nets’ triples came from Blatche who had eight points, all scored in the second half.

The Knicks led by as many as 21 points and were never threatened.  After New York closed the first quarter on top by 11, the Nets trimmed the gap to six on Thornton’s three. But the Knicks kept a safe distance away the rest of the way. Blatche showed flashes of defensive brilliance, once taking a charge from Cole Aldrich.

Nets head of basketball operations Marivic Lardizabal, a Filipina, welcomed us to the Barclays Center. We were issued passes to the Calvin Klein VIP lounge where guests indulged in unlimited food and drinks before and after the game plus halftime. Lounge guests were even allowed to bring food, including popcorn, and drinks to their seats. The Barclays Center atmosphere was electric as a sellout of over 17,700 fans packed the building. Mascot BrooklyKnight in shining armor and the Nets cheerdancers entertained the crowd. Actor Michael K. Williams and rapper Nas were in the audience. There isn’t a blind spot in the entire arena which was built at a cost of $1 Billion and inaugurated in September 2012.