Nate Robinson filled in nicely Monday night for the injured Kirk Hinrich in Game 5 of the Chicago Bulls' opening round series with the Brooklyn Nets, but he was unable to recapture the magic that helped top the Nets in Game 4.
Robinson scored 20 points and had eight assists in Game 5, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 110-91 loss that will force a Game 6 back in Chicago.
Nets point guard Deron Williams was embarrassed by Robinson in Brooklyn's triple-overtime Game 4 defeat and played Game 5 with vigor. He finished with 23 points and 10 assists, while shooting 6-of-14 from the field. He also nailed half of his four 3-pointers.
Nets center Brook Lopez had a monster game as well, scoring 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds against the Bulls' fearsome frontcourt. The power forward tandem of Reggie Evans and Kris Humphries combined for 12 points and 18 rebounds, including six boards of the offensive variety.
Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo was not surprised by Brooklyn's tenacious effort in a do-or-die situation. "I believed that we would respond. We've bounced back all year too well, and as disheartening a loss as that was on Saturday, there's still been enough good minutes in this series. Neither of us are getting away from each other."
Nets forward Gerald Wallace, who scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 39 minutes said, "We feel like we're the better team. We've just got to play a 48-minute game completely and stay in attack mode."
As for the Bulls, center Joakim Noah said the Game 5 loss is their own fault. "It was just a lot of mental mistakes. A lot of mental mistakes. I feel like we had our chances. We beat ourselves. They played well. You've got to give credit when credit is due and now it's on us to come back and be ready for Game 6."
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