Brooklyn Nets Wrote History in Sacramento

Brooklyn Nets made one of the biggest comebacks in the history of the NBA. After one crazy game and a 25-point deficit, the seventh-placed team of the Eastern Conference defeated the Sacramento Kings 123-121. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s game-winner with 0.8 seconds to go delivered a huge win for his side.

“These are the moments you live for; you want to play the game for. It’s humbling. It’s awesome,” Hollis-Jefferson spoke after the game, overwhelmed with joy.

Everything looked black for the Nets at the end of the third quarter. The guests from the East coast were in the hole, trailing 103-78, and experiencing serious problems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgRp1XRERRU

Their coach Kenny Atkinson was already thinking how to rest some players and to give a chance to the ones who are not so often on the court.

After all, they were in the middle of a seven-game road trip, and he had to keep his starters fresh for the next game against the Lakers.

“I wasn’t expecting an amazing comeback. I just have to be honest,” Atkinson said after the game. “We were at our wit’s end. It was desperation. We turned to that group, a little bit like let’s conserve our main guys and play it out.”

But something miraculous happened, and his team began playing better. Much better.

In the first four and a half minutes they allowed only four points for the hosts, while scoring 19 on the other end, and suddenly the momentum shifted to their side.

“Once we started getting stops our bench came alive as well, we started making shots, it was quiet in the arena and all we heard was the bench,” said D’Angelo Russell, who was the initial spark of the whole comeback.

One of the most talented players in the league scored 17 points in the first half. During the third quarter when Kings went on a 20-0 run, Russell couldn’t hit anything, and he recorded one of the few periods in this season with zero points.

But then came fury when needed the most. Russell dropped 27 points on Kings’ defense in the final quarter. He was fired up.

“I told you it’s time, I told you we was coming back,” he screamed to Buddy Hield.

The 23-year old ended the night with 44 points and 12 assists, shooting 10 of 15 in the fourth period. He simply tore apart Kings’ team and unleashed hell upon them.

Golden One Center turned out to be silent, as the game neared to its end.

“We started making tough shots, and we started getting stops. It was piggybacking off each other. It was a snowball effect, and they couldn’t put out the snow,” Russell said. “We started making shots, it was quiet in the arena, and all we heard was the bench.”

Kings were caught in a downward spiral, from which they couldn’t get out. They made just 5 of their 17 field goal attempts, while on the other side, Nets shot 17 of 24.

The crew from Brooklyn is only the fourth one in the history of the league, who managed to rally back after being 25 points behind the opponent at the start of the fourth quarter. Before tonight, the record of such teams was 3 wins and 3,028 losses.

Atkinson’s side is currently on a seven-game tour throughout the West. They played four games, and the victory in Sacramento is the first one after three straight defeats.

Brooklyn suffered a painful loss in LA against the Clippers on Monday, when Lou Williams hit a buzzer-beating three. It seemed that their agony is going to extend for one more game, but these guys showed character.

Next stop is Los Angeles and the Staples Center again, only this time the opponents are the Lakers. Their chances of beating this rival are solid, and a win would be a huge step towards jumping over the Pistons on the sixth place in the East.

The Nets’ schedule until the rest of the season is maybe the toughest in the league. Every game except the upcoming one will be against a playoff team from the Eastern conference, plus the one in against the Trail Blazers in Oregon. Celtics, Raptors, 76ers, Milwaukee twice, Pacers, and eventually Miami, are on the list. But this team has enough quality to get over this challenging period successfully.

They’ve shown it already on numerous occasions this season.