Brooklyn Handles Business
Oh my! That was aggressive by the Brooklyn Nets tonight. Just when you thought nothing could top Shaq’s Santa outfit, Brooklyn goes out and handles Golden State 125-99. It wasn’t that they beat the Warriors tonight, it’s that they didn’t even let it become a contest.
The KD and Kyrie Era Officially Begins in Brooklyn
The only thing that was not electric about Kevin Durant on Tuesday against the Warriors was his post-game interview. He kept it to short answers for the most part. When asked about the emotion going into playing his former team tonight, he responded, that he had no emotion at all. While he may have said that, the last time he suited up in a meaningful game was in a Warrior jersey. While it wasn’t emotional for him, it was for the Nets and Warriors fans.
He was asked about Steve Nash a couple of times and said while he may not have coaching experience, Steve has a lot of basketball experience. He later went on to say how he has been doing a great job so far. He’s right, Nash is new but he’s no stranger to this game. A two-time MVP with his coach from the Suns, Mike D’Antoni, sitting next to him. Nets general manager Sean Marks wore a Suns uniform next to Steve Nash from 2006-2008 as well. He didn’t just know about Nash from being in the NBA, he saw the way he managed the game firsthand while he was an MVP.
Kyrie Irving must have lit up some extra sage because he was feeling it all night. He ended up with 26 points and was 10 of 16 from the field. To say he was on tonight is like saying 2020 has been, ‘a little rough.’ He was feeling it so much that he pulled up from what seemed like half court at the end of the first half and sank it. A poetic shot to end the new era Nets first half.
PULL UP THEN KAI ? pic.twitter.com/ZJ1Jq8flEl
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 23, 2020
While both players average over 33 minutes in their careers, they needed just 25 a piece tonight to put together 46 of the team’s points. If the Nets perform like this all season it may hurt Kevin Durant’s MVP odds after never being able to add to his stats in the fourth quarter.
How Good Is the Nets Bench?
On a real note, this depth for the Nets is deep. It’s not all Durant and Kyrie for Brooklyn. Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen could start for most NBA teams right now and they are coming off the bench in Brooklyn. They both had 20 plus minutes tonight and LeVert put up 20 points of the pairs combined 28. Landry Shamet is this team’s eighth guy and there is still two or three more guys after him. Jeff Green and Taurean Prince while neither having their best night tonight, can give them solid minutes. Both of them average over 10 points for their career and the Nets won’t need much more than that from their ninth and tenth men. Forget a trade, they need to ride this thing out and see what happens.
Warriors Troubles
The Warriors looked helpless tonight against the Nets and it was hard not to feel for Steph Curry. He was all alone tonight dropping 20 points and 10 assists. James Wiseman looked pretty good in his debut with 19 points and 6 rebounds, but it was glaringly obvious that he was a rookie at times. Kelly Oubre Jr. had a couple of flashy dunks that accounted for all his points but was basically a walking trash can outside of that.
Next Up
Catch the Nets try and make a clean sweep in the first week of the new NBA season with their next two road games:
Christmas Day at 5 pm on ABC against the Boston Celtics and Sunday at 7 pm on NBATV against the Charlotte Hornets.
