Brooklyn Nets Weekly: Help Needed
Season Record: 10-8
Week Record: 2-2
Player of the Week: Jeff Green - 13.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 61.3 FG%, 63.2 3P%, 100.0 FT%
Best Individual Performance: Kevin Durant - 38 Points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 blocks in 135-147 OT Loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers
SUMMARY
This was an up-and-down, telling week for the Brooklyn Nets. I had to give Jeff Green a shoutout for his play in increased minutes. At 34-years-old, he’s now being asked to be the go-to defender whether he starts or comes off the bench. He went from 20.8 minutes per game before the James Harden trade to 33 since Harden’s 1st appearance. Green may not be putting up astounding numbers, but he’s playing his role perfectly thus far by hitting his shots and doing his best to defend opposing scoring threats.
The week started off very promising as the Nets were able to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks AND get the notice that Kyrie Irving would be returning for the Cavaliers matchup. The win versus Milwaukee was needed but also exposed some flaws with the team. The most evident flaw, which will remain until the Nets make another move (adding a Free Agent or making another trade), is the lack of depth, particularly scoring depth. In the Bucks game, the bench scored a total of 15 points, with the starters scoring 110 points. Another flaw is that the team defense is lacking, making it hard to get key stops. The Nets were up 11 points late in the 3rd quarter yet entered the 4th with just a 5-point lead. The team seemed to be getting ready to put the Bucks away by going up 7 with 7 minutes remaining, but the Bucks continued to get easy looks and kept it close, even taking the lead a few times before Kevin Durant’s big 3-point shot with just over 30 seconds left. After Khris Middleton missed a 3-point look on the following possession, Durant was tasked with closing out the game. He ran the clock down and attempted to get a pull-up jumper off, only to be stripped by Middleton and allow the Bucks to get another attempt to steal the game. Luckily, Middleton missed his corner 3-point attempt, giving the Nets the much-needed win.
It was now onto the Cavs in a 2-game away matchup. It marked Game 1 of the new Big 3 altogether and for Irving, it marked just his 2nd and 3rd returns back to Cleveland after leaving back in 2017. The 1st game may have been the Nets’ lowest point of this early season. Durant and Irving put up 38 and 37 points, respectively, but the team lost in double overtime. The team’s two biggest flaws (bench scoring and lack of defensive stoppers) showed their ugly faces in a major way in this game. Even with Joe Harris moving to a bench role, the bench only managed to put up 10 of the team’s 135 points. On the opposing side, the Cavs’ bench scored 44 points between just three players. That wasn’t the worst of it. In the 2nd overtime (a 5-minute quarter), the Nets allowed the Cavs to put up 20 points! Collin Sexton killed every defender they threw at him in the quarter, netting 15 of his 42 points in the 2nd overtime.
Game 2 felt like a setup game as the Nets gave Durant the night off. It allowed Irving and Harden to mesh with each other, or so you’d think. The Nets lost this game in a more convincing fashion as the Cavs had a big 3rd quarter and never looked back after that. Harden, once again, played the part of lead facilitator while Irving looked to score more than set up his teammates. The most telling part of this game was that the struggles
of Landry Shamet, someone seen as an up-and-coming shooter, may be permanent. Shamet played nearly 19 minutes off the bench and went 0-6 from the field, with six of those shots being 3-point attempts. Shamet was now shooting a horrid 28.6% from three on 56 attempts through 16 games. He was shooting 40.2% from three in his 1st two seasons before joining Brooklyn. His resurgence would be key to the Nets’ bench improving.
The final game of the weak came versus the struggling Miami Heat. While the bench improved a bit, with 26 points between Green, Bruce Brown, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Reggie Perry, the defense continued to struggle. The Nets allowed Miami to score 42 points in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn into the final quarter with an 11-point lead and allowed Miami to climb back in the game before finally putting things away with made free throws. Just a few days after seeing Sexton unleash on the defense for 42 points, Bam Adebayo dropped 41 points on the Nets’ defense. If the Nets lost this matchup, Bam’s 41 would have grabbed more media attention, pointing at the flaws of the Nets’ inability to stop some of the league’s best.
Time will tell how the Nets’ front office decides to address the team’s issues, whether they decided to get a backup big man for DeAndre Jordan or if they look to add some more wing defenders and a bench playmaker. Regardless, the team as is doesn’t look like it can withstand a competitive 7-game playoff series against another real contender.
NEXT UP
vs Miami Heat 1/25/21
@ Atlanta Hawks 1/27/21
@ Oklahoma City Thunder 1/29/21