Every morning, we will give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: Celtics take notice
When the Nets moved to Brooklyn, they sought to remake their identity. Gone was the hapless franchise who was the baby brother to the Knicks. Gone was the long treks out to the Meadowlands for games. No more being quasi-New York. The Nets are all Brooklyn now.
Just one more thing needs to happen for the Nets to complete the transformation. Winning.
It is one thing to spend money and rebrand, but it means nothing without winning.
Early in the season the Nets have delivered. And on national TV against the battle-tested Celtics, Brooklyn may have made the statement pretty clear. This team is here to compete and do more than "just make the Playoffs" or be the "splashy new team."
Brooklyn led most of the way against Boston before Boston made a run to take the lead in the fourth quarter. The Nets did not bat so much as an eyelid. They came around and secured the win — partially thanks to Paul Pierce missing two free throws late.
Deron Williams and Brook Lopez had 24 points each to pace the Nets and secure the statement win over the division favorites.
2: Spurs nicked
In another Atlantic Division statement game, the Knicks went to San Antonio and walked out with a win for the first time in nine years.
New York came back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter thanks to Jason Kidd and J.R. Smith hitting some timely 3-pointers. On the game, New York hit 11 of 25 3-pointers. The Knicks executed on offense late again to get the 104-100 win, the first close game the Knicks have played this season.
Of course, the big thing might very well have been Carmelo Anthony's performance. Anthony scored only nine points on 3-for-12 shooting. Anthony still made a positive impact with 12 rebounds. That would be a major growth for Anthony's game as his offense will always be there. He has always needed to be able to provide more to his teams. Perhaps now he is finally getting it.
Raymond Felton got his turn to be the star with 25 points and helping hold Tony Parker to 7-for-20 shooting and 19 points.
New York is 6-0 and looking incredibly strong. San Antonio learned that lesson.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
LeBron James throws it down
Williams whips it to Lopez
Chandler follows
4: Line of the Night: Kenneth Faried — 16 points, 20 rebounds
On Inside the NBA last night, Kenny Smith called Kenneth Faried the Rajon Rondo of rebounds. There is no doubt about that as Faried is relentless on the glass and is someone defenders always have to make sure and box out. Shane Battier struggled with that and Faried had a field day on the glass Thursday.
5: You can quote me on that
It shows me that this team is for real. We beat a great team tonight.
We came too far. That's the type of team we have. We came too far to let this slip away from us
