The Brooklyn Nets fought back from a 3-1 deficit to force a game seven on their home court tonight, but couldn't closeout the injury-plagued Chicago Bulls in the deciding game of the series, falling 99-93.

An inability to close became a theme of Brooklyn's inaugural season. I said it after their first loss in this series a week and a half ago in this very building—if the Nets were going to advance to Round Two, they would have to do something they couldn't do all year: produce in the face of adversity. 49 wins and forcing a game seven in the first round of the playoffs are both very admirable accomplishments, but when the going got tough, these Nets didn't exactly get going.

Deron Williams was brought in to be the star of this team, and started the game as though he was ready to carry the burden. He scored the Net's first eight points and set up the next two with a half-court bounce pass that resulted in a Gerald Wallace dunk. Despite the strong start, both teams continued through the first quarter with a nervous confidence and neither was able to grab momentum. Thanks to a last second bucket by Taj Gibson, Chicago was up 29-25 after the first quarter.

As they have done all season, Andray Blatche and C.J. Watson provided a needed offensive spark off the bench with both teams riding their reserves for the first half of the second quarter. But when the starters came back, the Bulls were finally able to grab some momentum behind Joakim Noah's 16 first half points on 8 of 11 shooting. When the lead became 17 on a Carlos Boozer dunk with one second left in the half, the boo birds came out. Chicago would head into the locker room up 61-44, and I overheard at least one fan mutter, "this game's over."

The first half was a matter of defense, or lack thereof. Both the Nets and Bulls shot close to 50%, but the Bulls out-rebounded Brooklyn 21-13 and forced three more turnovers. And those stats don't include the broken coverages that led to easy layups and dunks. Combine that with the Bulls' 61% shooting in the second quarter and the Nets found themselves in trouble after the first half.

"I think we weren't as aggressive as they were, especially on the boards and the defensive end in the first half," Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said.

That was an understatement.

Never one to mince words, TNT's Charles Barkley said Brooklyn showed about as much intensity in the first half as a scrimmage. If the Nets were going to come back, there would have to tighten up on defense and show a lot more passion.

Seemingly heeding Sir Charles' challenge, a totally different team did come out of the Brooklyn locker room for the second half. Finally playing with an energy as if their playoff lives depended on it, the Nets started to claw back, and after two back-to-back Gerald Wallace three pointers Brooklyn was able to trim the lead to seven with seven minutes left in the third. The rally towels had become just that with the crowd urging their Nets to make it a game, and they obliged, getting as close as four. Gerald Wallace was the catalyst for the Nets comeback, scoring 11 points in the third quarter, making 3 of 5 from behind the arc.

But that would be as close as the Nets would get. Chicago was able to gather their composure and get it back to a seven point lead to end the quarter. The Bulls held a 82-75 advantage with 12 minutes left in Brooklyn's season.

Brooklyn continued to battle back in the fourth, but Chicago—namely Joakim Noah—wouldn't let the Nets get into a rhythm. Each time Brooklyn punched, the Bulls had a counter and never relinquished the lead.

Noah, who guaranteed a game seven win for Chicago, finished with 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots, becoming the first person since Elvin Hayes in 1979 with such a gaudy statline. Marco Belinelli also had 24 points and Carlos Boozer added 17.

"I'll remember this for the rest of my life," Noah said after the game. "I'm just so proud of this team."

Deron Williams led the Nets with 24 points, while Wallace added 19 and Brook Lopez's 21 gave him at least 20 points in six of the seven games in the series. But the rest of the Nets offense was woefully inept, especially Joe Johnson who only had six points on 2 of 14 shooting.

"It's disappointing. We won Game 6, we felt like this was our series, but they came out and played a great game," Williams said. "Noah, like I said, he's a warrior. He battled through his injuries and just had a monster game. We really had no answers for him down low tonight."

They made it a series, and by all accounts it was a successful first season in Brooklyn, but it sure doesn't feel like it on this night. In 2013, the Nets became the first professional team in the borough since the Dodgers, and now they have earned the right to adopt their predecessors catch phrase:

Wait 'til next year.