The Long Island Nets returned to the court in suburban Montreal Tuesday night for a game against the Noblesville Boom. This marked the final “home” game for Long Island in Montreal for the season, marking the end of Year 2 of the partnership between BSE Global and Groupe CH. Unfortunately for Long Island, they couldn’t end it on a high note, as they fell to Noblesville, the Indiana Pacers affiliate,121-117.
While Long Island had a sellout attendance on Sunday as they drew in 6,720 fans, that number would take a bit of a dip on Tuesday, for a game with fewer seats open. Nonetheless, Long Island still drew in 4,810 fans on a Tuesday evening, for yet another sellout. This is more than double the average that Nassau Coliseum sees.
Despite starters Nate Williams and Tyson Etienne combining for close to 50 points, Long Island lost this one, bringing their Canada record to 2-2 on the season.
Nate Williams, one of several Long Islanders awaiting Brooklyn’s decision on their open roster spot, led the starters and the team, having another very impressive game. Williams shot the ball well, a respectable 50% to be exact, as well as 66% from deep. Williams finished the game leading the team in scoring, tallying 25 points.
Williams who turns 27 Thurdsday did a lot of his damage from the foul stripe, as he nailed four of his six shots for quite a few extra points. Williams played yet another very solid all-around game. He tallied eight rebounds and six assists in the process, continuing to be both a valuable scorer and a valuable playmaker for Long Island. Williams’ eight rebounds were a team-best. On top of all of those already impressive stats, Williams also picked up a steal, showing his keen eye for the ball. Much of his best work comes as a ballhawk, and while he’s not always picking up steals, he’s always disrupting passes. He’s averaging 1.6 steals per game.
Long Island also had all three of Brooklyn’s two-way players on hand in this one, with Tyson Etienne leading the charge. Etienne picked up 23 points, which was good enough for second on the team. He connected on seven of his 16 shots, including going 5-of-12 from deep.
Etienne also had six rebounds and four assists. He was a major player in just about every aspect of the game. Etienne was also tied for the team lead in steals, as he picked up two.
The second of the three Brooklyn two-ways in attendance for this one, Chaney Johnson, played arguably his best game as a professional yet coming off the bench. He finished with 20 points, and shot the ball very well, 64% to be exact but only 25% from deep. His defensive performance is what stood out. The 23-year-old 6’7” 3-and-D candidate hauled in six rebounds along with two steals and two blocks. Johnson was also a beast on defense. He made every offensive player in Noblesville’s life hell with his ability to guard all five positions.
Malachi Smith also continued to play well. Since being named a starter, we’ve seen the 6’4” point guard Smith do things that fans never really knew that he was capable of. Smith entered this game with a ton of confidence on the back of his double-double on Sunday. Smith has turned into a double-double machine as of late, and Tuesday night was no different.
Smith finished this game with 18 points and a team-best 11 assists. When Nolan Traore got called up to Brooklyn, it left a wide-open spot on Long Island in the backcourt and while Brooklyn may have found their point guard of the future in Traore, Long Island may have done the same thing with Smith. The high school teammate of E.J. Liddell, the 26=year=old Smith also had six rebounds in this one.
However, unfortunately for Smith, not all was peachy in his game. Smith’s biggest downfall once again came in the ball protection department. After turning the ball over five times in Sunday’s showing, Smith once again led the team in turnovers with five on Tuesday. Nonetheless, if he can fix this aspect of his game, Smith can be a force at the point guard spot for any team.
Following his uncharacteristic game on Sunday, Grant Nelson got back on track in this one. In 24 minutes, the most he’s played since coming back from a seven-week layoff 11 games back. Nelson tallied 10 points and shot the ball well, connecting on four of his six shots. missing his only try from deep.
With that said, his game is flourishing as a blocker. Long Island, which had a total of eight blocks on Tuesday, hal of them credited to Nelson was credited with half of that number. This is an aspect of his game that has been under the radar, but when he sees the ball, his timing, athleticism and seven-foot wingspan come into play . The 23-year-old also had six rebounds.
EJ Liddell had a very uncharacteristic game in this one. Liddell, who has been near the top in scoring as of late, was the only starter in Tuesday’s loss to not reach double digits. Liddell tallied nine points while connecting on four of his nine tries. He also missed all three of his tries from deep. Liddell made up for this in other parts of his game, as he finished Tuesday’s match-up with five rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block.
Long Island went down early but slowly recovered in this one. The Boom pushed the lead to as many as 15 points to open the third, but the Nets countered with a 25-8 run to move in front by two late in the period. Noblesville weathered the push and regained a 92-90 lead entering the fourth.
In a tightly contested final frame, the game was tied 108-108 with 4:42 remaining. From there, the Boom executed down the stretch, powered by 10 fourth‑quarter points from M.J. Iraldi as they delivered timely buckets in the closing minutes. Noblesville never surrendered the lead in the fourth, with five Boom players finishing in double figures
The Long Island Nets (12-9) travel back to the United States to face off with their old friend Kennedy Chandler and the Delaware Blue Coats, in Delaware, on Thursday, February 12. This is a matinee game for Long Island as they tip off against Delaware at 11:00 a.m. ET. This game can be watched on the NBA G League website, as well as on the NBA app.
Boxscore: Noblesville Boom 121, Long Island Nets 117 - G League
Game Highlights: Noblesville Boom 121, Long Island Nets 117 (Video) - G League