Brooklyn Nets Weekly: Your Roller Coaster Starts Now
Season Record: 14-11
Week Record: 1-3
Player of the Week: Joe Harris - 19.0 PPG, 2.5 APG, 1.0 TO, 60.9 FG%, 58.1 3P%, 100.0 FT%
Best Individual Performance: Kyrie Irving - 39 Points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and only 1 turnover in 124-120 win versus the Los Angeles Clippers (only missed 3 of 14 shots after the 1st quarter, good for 30 points)
SUMMARY
The Nets are bound to have peaks and valleys during the season, it’s expected. However, this week, in particular, was pretty low. The team began the week with two signings that were clearly brought in to help the defense: Iman Shumpert and Norvel Pelle. Neither player adds much offensively, but both guys offer defensive effort that the team lacks. After the two signings, it was on to Washington to face the lowly Wizards. After losing to Washington back on January 3rd, you’d think the Nets would come in to handle business. It felt that way for just over 46 minutes, as the Nets held the lead the entire game (minus a 20-second period in the 2nd quarter). Under the 1-minute mark is when things began to fall apart in a dramatic fashion. The Nets gave the Wizards their 4th win of the season by allowing 84 2nd half points. The Nets managed to waste big games from Joe Harris and Jeff Green as the two players combined for 53 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists on 18-27 shooting (12-18 from three). We were without James Harden, but Irving and Kevin Durant should have been more than enough to beat one of the league’s worst early-season teams.
Things weren’t looking too good as the Nets headed back to Brooklyn to take on the 16-5 Los Angeles Clippers, the team that held the best record in the league at the time. Harden was back in the lineup, and things looked great again. The defense wasn’t stout, by any means, as the Clippers hit 41.7% of their threes and dropped 120 points, but it was better than what we’ve seen as of late. The Big 3 impressed, scoring 90 of the team’s 124 points. The win was much needed after the disappointing loss in Washington two days prior. That just happened to be the Nets’ lone high for the week, as things got weird in the following game versus the Toronto Raptors.
Durant was forced to a bench role, the first time in his illustrious career, after undergoing contact tracing prior to the game. Durant was then cleared to play and played a total of 19 minutes before being pulled and forced out of the game. It was an odd moment for Durant and the Nets, which led to this eerie tweet from Durant. When I initially saw the tweet, I thought “oh know, Durant’s unhappy with Brooklyn. WTH happened?” I was relieved to find out he was simply annoyed with the league’s protocols forcing him out of the game. With all that said, the Nets would go on to lose the game as no Net player was able to hit the 20-point mark, while Toronto had two 30-point scorers (33 from Pascal Siakam and 31 from Kyle Lowry).
The last match of the week was against the surging Philadelphia 76ers. With Durant ruled out due to Covid-19 contact tracing rulings, the Nets were fighting an uphill battle against the 76ers. Things got worse as Irving was also ruled out, with an index finger sprain. It was Harden & Company against Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, & Company. The Nets did a phenomenal job of staying in the game in the 1st half, only trailing by 3 at halftime. Everything fell apart in the 3rd quarter as Brooklyn, despite scoring 30 points of their own, allowed the 76ers to score 43 points. The 4th quarter was just a formality as Harden, nor any starter besides Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, sat the entire quarter.
It was another rough week for Brooklyn. Durant has been ruled out until at least February 13th’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors. So, with 2 games scheduled before then, hopefully Irving plays, or Harden reminds us why he’s been the league’s most prolific scorer these past few years.
NEXT UP
@ Detroit Pistons 2/9/21
vs Indiana Pacers 2/10/21
@ Golden State Warriors 2/13/21