Sean Kilpatrick nailed a pull-up three-pointer with about five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and you could see Chris Paul’s shoulders slump. Paul was under the basket, but you can see him turn around and stare in Kilpatrick’s direction for a few moments — in annoyance, or disbelief.
Sean Kilpatrick is the diamond in the rough the Nets needed
The Brooklyn guard introduced himself to the Clippers in a big way on Tuesday. It’s time everyone else knows who he is, too.
Or maybe Paul was just confused. Maybe Paul was trying to figure out who the hell was wearing this No. 6 Nets jersey and lighting up the Clippers.
Kilpatrick had a career game in Brooklyn’s Tuesday upset of Los Angeles in double overtime. The game was beyond wild, but Kilpatrick’s night is the larger takeaway. The 26-year-old guard from Yonkers, N.Y. hadn’t ever had a 30-point game before scoring 38 on Tuesday. The Nets started the fourth quarter down 13, only to force overtime after Kilpatrick dropped 20 in the frame itself.
It’s time we all know who Kilpatrick is.
He had a long journey to college stardom at Cincinnati, starting his college career being basically unable to dribble with his left hand before developing into a second-team All-American. His NBA journey took a similar meandering path — undrafted, waived by the Warriors in camp, several months grinding in the D-League, and a three 10-day contracts that didn’t go anywhere.
On Feb. 28 this year, the Brooklyn Nets extended him a 10-day contract. He scored 19 points on March 5, and then scored 19 twice more after Brooklyn extended him on a second 10-day contract, latching onto his chance and not letting go. The Nets signed him to a multi-year deal after that.
The day before his breakout game, before he ever earned the eye of Chris Paul, Kilpatrick tweeted this.
I’ll be damned if he isn’t living up to that motto.
Kilpatrick is a great find for the Nets.
Brooklyn is a bad team without a draft pick. They need to find a few diamonds overlooked in the NBA landscape, and Kilpatrick might be that.
His 20-point quarter showed Kilpatrick’s best. The 6’4 guard is crafty. He’ll dip around a pick-and-roll, patiently pump fake a defender out of the way when he gets to the rim, and just seems to have a knack for finding some space. In fact, there’s some Chris Paul in his game, the same guy trying to figure out who he was midway through the fourth.
Kilpatrick had 14 rebounds, too, putting him with Anthony Davis as the only players this season with at least 38 points and 14 rebounds in a game. The only thing that didn’t go right for Kilpatrick in the fourth was a missed game-winning shot with two seconds left — and man, it tried its hardest anyway.
Kilpatrick came back down to earth in overtime. He played hero ball in the first overtime, taking three straight pull-up triples that all missed. That can partly (but not totally) be blamed on the Nets not having anyone else to shoot those shots anyway. He shot 14 of 34 in the game, and was just 4 of 10 in the two overtimes while missing a huge free throw that would have potentially secured the win in the first extra period.
Of course, even with a few more missed shots, Kilpatrick still could do no wrong. Up by two points with less than 30 seconds remaining, Brooklyn gave the ball back to him. From the top of the key, he crossed Paul over and hit the game-icing and-one layup at the rim.
If Chris Paul didn’t know him before, he sure does now.
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