Brooklyn Nets gave the reigning champs all they could handle on Friday night, keeping pace wire-to-wire with Boston before eventually falling short in overtime by the score of 108-104. Now sitting at 4-5 on the season, Brooklyn has proven they can hang with nearly anyone, playing exciting basketball as one of the biggest surprises in the NBA’s young season.
Cam Thomas snaps out of his shooting slump but sees his playmaking fall off
After a mini-scoring slump of two games, Thomas exploded against Boston tallying 31 points on 11 of 22 shooting overall, and going 4 of 9 from deep. It was refreshing to see the key youngster regain his stroke so quickly and should serve as a reminder to doubters that he has all the tools to be an elite scorer in the league.
We haven’t seen a game yet this year where Thomas clicks as both a scorer and playmaker, which is the next step he needs to take in order to prove he’s a cornerstone piece for the rebuilding franchise.
The starting lineup gets a new look
Nic Claxton was inserted into the starting lineup for the second straight game, and the first with Ben Simmons available as Jordi Fernandez makes good on his plans to bring Claxton back to the starting lineup. The corresponding move was to send Simmons to the bench, however, both players played roughly to their season minutes per game averages.
While this move should pay dividends long-term by splitting up the primary ball handlers more, Brooklyn’s second unit struggled alongside Simmons just shooting 8 for 27 from the field (29.6%) and 0-10 from three.
He’s the Nets’ biggest remaining veteran trade chip and performances like this will only increase his value. There will be issues trying to move him due to his large contract that counts for $27 million this season for teams above the apron, as the new CBA makes passing the second apron an increasingly unpalatable proposition.
Unfortunately, most contending teams are too close to the apron to see the appeal of dealing with the financial ramifications of passing the second apron to acquire a role player, however, if Johnson can continue to play at this high level he may very well convince some teams that he could be the missing piece for a championship run.
Both teams were ice-cold from beyond the arc
This is both a testament to Brooklyn’s defense as well as an unfortunate referendum on their three-point consistency. Boston leads the league in three-pointers attempted per game at a whopping 51.4 per game while 13th overall in three-point percentage at 36.0%. The Nets stifled Boston’s long-range barrage holding them to just 14 connections of 53 attempts which was good for just 26.4%.
On the other hand, the Nets are currently sixth in the NBA in three-pointers attempted per game at 39.9 but rank just 20th in efficiency connecting on a mediocre 34.8%. Last night, they allowed Boston to do to them what they did to Boston, shooting just 10 for 38 from three which was good for just 26.3%.
Brooklyn’s efficient three-point defense will keep them in a lot of games as Jordi Fernandez looks to mold the team into a suffocating defensive unit, however without the efficiency from their own long-range shooters, especially off the bench, the impact of that strong defense will be muted.
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