Charlotte Bobcats (18-58) @ Brooklyn Nets (43-32)

Barclays Center 7:30

TV: YES – RADIO: Bloomberg 1130AM

The Brooklyn Nets lost a critical game on Thursday night to the visiting Chicago Bulls 92-90.  The game was made worse knowing the unbelievably short-handed Bulls were able to win in Brooklyn without five key players.  The Charlotte Bobcats come to town tonight to visit the Barclays Center after losing last night to the Miami Heat 89-79.

The Nets blew a 16-point lead and lost a three-point advantage in the final 52 seconds with turnovers and missed shots. The final minute was not one that All-Star center Brook Lopez wants to remember as his turnover and wide open jumper that missed, to tie the game, clanged out and the Nets lost.

[blockquote]”It’s tough, just because our team was playing so well for the majority of the game and I contributed a lot to how the final score ended up and that’s definitely not something I’m happy about,” Lopez said.[/blockquote]

Lopez opened the game on fire with 18 first quarter points but went cold for the next two and a half quarters to end with 28 points.  Deron Williams and his rejuvenated play led the Nets with 30 points and he dished out 10 assists.  Lopez scored 26 in a 97-81 home victory over Charlotte back on Dec. 28th.

The Nets are third in the NBA in total rebounding percentage, grabbing nearly 54 percent of all misses so being outrebounded so badly by the Bulls was eye opening.  The 46-30 rebounding edge Chicago had was hopefully a hiccup and not a habit from this point on.

The Charlotte Bobcats have played much better since inserting Josh McRoberts into the starting lineup with a 5-6 record and are looking to finish the season strong to bring hope to the fledgeling franchise.  The Bobcats are coming off a home win against the Philadelphia Sixers 88-83 on Wednesday and fell to the defending champion Miami Heat last night in a good game most of the way.  The Bobcats were outscored 18-8 in the third quarter after hanging with the resting Heat for the first half.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist lead the Bobcats with 18 points and 14 rebounds in the 89-79 loss mostly due to their horrible 31 percent shooting.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME: Joe Johnson vs Gerald Henderson

Joe Johnson made his return on Thursday ending a five-game absence due to injury scoring 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting and noted after the game her didn’t have his wind back yet.  That will have to come in the last few games prior to the playoffs for the Nets to have a chance.  Johnson is a key to the Nets hopes and tonight would be a great night to try and get Cool Joe back into the offensive flow and ready for the postseason.  Johnson scored 22 points on 5-8 three-point shooting the last victory on March 6th over Charlotte.

STAT FOR TONIGHT: The Nets, winners of six straight over the Bobcats and three in a row at home, have prevailed by a combined 37 points in this season’s two matchups.

Nets:

None

Bobcats: