MY BALL! Gerald Wallace (right) heads upcourt after stealing the ball from the Bulls’ Taj Gobson (left) as Marco Belinelli gives chase during the Nets’ 110-91 victory last night in Game 5 of the first-round NBA playoff series. (Reuters)
MY BALL! Gerald Wallace (right) heads upcourt after stealing the ball from the Bulls’ Taj Gobson (left) as Marco Belinelli gives chase during the Nets’ 110-91 victory last night in Game 5 of the first-round NBA playoff series. (Reuters)
Gerald Wallace isn’t shy about saying it and he doesn’t mind if the Bulls hear it.
“We’re the better team,” he said last night, following the Nets’ 110-91 live-another-day first-round playoff victory over the Bulls at the Barclays Center. Wallace said it more than once.
Game 6 is set for Thursday at the United Center in Chicago and from Wallace’s point-of-view, Brooklyn might as well prepare for Game 7 on Saturday night.
“Our backs are against the wall right now,” he said of Nets, who trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. “We have a fighting spirit and we’re a fighting team. We’re not ready to go home. We feel like we’re better than this team. We just had some games slip away. We feel like we’re good enough and a better team that we can come back and win three in a row just like they did.”
The “we’re a fighting team” part is a direct response to the Bulls reportedly calling the Nets “gutless and heartless.” That was what a Chicago reporter said the fifth-seeded Bulls were privately saying about the fourth-seeded Nets, and that was before the series began.
The reporter passed along the Bulls’ thinking during halftime of Game 4 on Saturday in Chicago, and the Nets watched a video of his interview before Game 5. But until last night, it was hard to argue the point. After winning Game 1, the Nets had lost three straight, including that awful Game 4 in Chicago, in which they blew a 14-point lead with three minutes to play in regulation and wound up losing in triple overtime.
It left them on the brink of elimination last night, the biggest gut- and heart-check of the season. For one night, the Nets dispelled the notion they’re a soft team; for one night, they showed plenty of guts and heart and made Brooklyn proud with a total team effort led by Brook Lopez (28 points, 10 rebounds) and Deron Williams (23 points, 10 assists). Wallace was productive, too, scoring 12 points. He found his role and his shooting touch, converting 5 of 8 field goals, including 2 of 4 from three-point range.
“I didn’t hesitate and didn’t think about it,” he said. “I got in the flow of the game. That’s what I’m trying to do more of, stay in attack mode and being more aggressive.”
The Nets were clearly the more aggressive team last night, especially in the fourth quarter, in which they have been outplayed by the Bulls so many times this season. After Williams scored 13 points in the third quarter, Andray Blatche totaled 10 of his 13 points in the fourth.
Wallace was a steady presence, but made his biggest impact late in the fourth, when he drained a 3-pointer from the corner and then converted a dunk off a Bulls turnover to give the Nets a 103-91 lead with two minutes to play.
Unlike Game 4, the Nets didn’t fold down the stretch. They were far from gutless and heartless. They didn’t commit a turnover in the fourth quarter, converted all nine of their free throws and had eight fast-break points compared to none for the Bulls.
Wallace said the key was staying aggressive.
“We feel like we’re the better team,” he said again if anyone missed it. “We’ve just got to play a 48-minute game and play it completely and stay in attack mode. We kind of relax when we’re up with about four or five minutes left. We have to continue to attack.”
There is no fear of going to Chicago for Game 6. In a strange way, the Nets have added confidence because they controlled Game 4 for 45 of the 48 minutes.
“I’m sure they feel like they’re going back to Chicago and they can close us out at home,” Wallace said. “We just have to prove we’re a better team. We’ve played them tough in Chicago, but we haven’t finished the game for 48 minutes. That’s what we have to do Thursday night.”
Who’s gutless and heartless now?