Nets Stayin’ Alive vs. Bulls
Brooklyn passes major "gut" check in Game 5, forces series back to Chicago
It’s quite possible that the Nets learned more about themselves during what was by far the most devastating playoff loss in franchise history than at any other point during their historic first season in our fair borough.
After suffering through a mind-numbing, heartbreaking Game 4 collapse in Chicago, during which it squandered a seemingly safe 14-point lead in the final three minutes of regulation before limping off the United Center floor with a gutwrenching triple-overtime defeat, Brooklyn bounced back in courageous fashion Monday evening before another Blacked Out sellout crowd at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
Whether it was Joe Johnson draining a pair of game-tying jump shots on one good leg in the first overtime of Saturday’s devastating 142-134 defeat, or the news that circulated afterward that the Bulls thought the Nets were “gutless and hearless”, our borough’s first major pro sports franchise since the beloved Dodgers fled to Los Angeles in 1957 was not yet ready to say Goodbye Playoffs.