of brooklyn nets Officially the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference.
Brooklyn won nine in a row, going 125-117 with a 125-117 win, extending their longest active winning streak in history. cleveland cavaliersThe Nets’ winning streak is the longest in franchise history since 2005-06 when Jack Vaughan was backup point guard, and Brooklyn is a league-best 10-1 in December. The win was the team’s 20th since Vaughan took over the team in early November, and the Nets were 10th.
Perhaps more importantly, the Nets have pulled the Warriors, Bucks and Cavs back in a week and ruined the narrative that you can’t beat a good team.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving dropped 32 points each, joining Boston’s Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum as the only pair of teammates to have five 30-point performances in a season game this young NBA season. Irving’s seven 3-pointers were a season-high, and Durant made five 3-pointers late in the fourth, despite his first foul of his Nets tenure. His two superstars totaled 21/37, including his 12/19 from the Deep.
TJ Warren was also exceptional off the bench, dropping a season-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting and grabbing a season-high 8 rebounds in 27 minutes (which was also a season-high). It was the highest score in just two years. 6’9 inch forward Pacers On 26 December 2020, a series of leg injuries sidelined him until 2 December of this year.
Darius Garland spurred a comeback for the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter by scoring 46 all-around.
Brooklyn’s shooting split was outrageous. The Nets posted an astounding shooting percentage of 57.1% and 3 to 60.0% from the field. This is his second best performance from distance this season, behind his 63.6% of his shots outside. 143-113 win over- golden state warriorsThat ludicrous shooting performance made up for a point-in-the-paint discrepancy with Cleveland leading 48–34 at the sound of the final buzzer.
The bottom line was that the box score line didn’t tell the full story of the game. Ben Simmons and Nick Claxton didn’t put him in big numbers offensively, but Simmons didn’t start Donovan Mitchell and Claxton had the same effect on Allen. As he referred to his teammate, “I have a lot of experience playing against him.” It was over, but Allen had five shots in the game, going down to just two.
Early on, both teams showed why they are top defenses. Brooklyn frontcourt Simmons and Nick Claxton started his 1-4 combination from the field against Cleveland’s duo of giants Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Meanwhile, the Nets completely ignored Lamar Stevens, who has a low percentage of outside shooters, and blocked Cleveland’s driving lane.
Luckily, behind the ridiculous shotmaking of Royce O’Neal, Durant, and Warren, the Nets have found rhythm on the offense with 3 and ridiculous 1 finishes. Ben Simmons was also an exceptional starter thanks to his superior internal defense and offensive presence on the grass. The Cavaliers as a team only shot 36.4% from the field this quarter. Overall, the Nets got off to a great start and at 1-2 he led 34-22.
The Cavaliers started the second quarter on an 11-6 run before Kevin Durant sat down to cut Brooklyn’s advantage to seven. There were some fun moments where Allen, the center of Brooklyn’s past, went head-to-head with Claxton, the center of the future. Allen tried to post Allen up on one end, but he missed terribly after Claxton got back up. At the other end, Claxton was zipped by his Allen for a gorgeous finish out of the glass. It was that kind of night.
Still, Brooklyn struggled to score most of the quarter by just 10 points until Jack Vaughan brought in a small-ball lineup of Durant, Irving, Warren, O’Neill, and Simmons to break the scoring drought. moved. good looking. Brooklyn he closed the first half at 18-4. Irving combined his twos within four minutes with his three he three-pointers and his 11-point long. Brooklyn won his biggest halftime lead of the season at 64-49 as he entered the break with a 15-point lead.
Cleveland fought back to start the third. He cut Brooklyn’s lead to 10 with an 8-0 run. Brooklyn responded with his 10-for-3 run and regained the lead by 15 points after Durant’s pair of threes for him. As the Cavaliers rolled out their zone defense, Brooklyn quickly punctured coverage with its powerful shots and slashes. The Nets went 91-79 into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was the Kyrie Irving show. Irving gave Brooklyn his 19-point lead with him scoring his seven with less than two minutes remaining and he had just over ten minutes remaining. But the courageous young Cavaliers didn’t go away after Irving’s scoring explosion, going on a 17-7 run. Durant, as Ian Eagle put it on his YES broadcast, didn’t care. He hit his two 3-pointers and drew his throw free against Evan his Mobley for 8 points.
Garland matched him on the other side. Garland cut Brooklyn’s lead to his nine as he put up his 13 points in three minutes. By the 4:07 mark of the fourth, Garland had already reached 40 points. Things got particularly scary when KD fouled out at his 1:54 mark in the 4th quarter. With Irving alone on the floor to fulfill star duties, Cleveland consistently threw many double teams to Brooklyn’s All-Star point guard. The strategy worked when Brooklyn turned the ball over in midcourt and Irving ran out with less than a minute left on the shot clock. It turned out to be their last stand.
Luckily, the Nets had enough to hang on. When he was fouled by Cedio Osman on the sideline, Kyrie’s Irving scored his two free throws and Claxton hit a Garland layup to win the game.
No Curry, No Harris, No Problem
Seth Curry (43.71%) and Joe Harris (43.51%) are the most accurate 3-point shooters in the game today. They also rank 4th and 5th all-time. Both were sidelined Monday night in Cleveland, with Curry suffering from a non-coronavirus illness and Harris suffering from knee pain that will keep him out at least for Wednesday night’s game against the Hawks.
Still, even with the snipers, Brooklyn still has 60% (18 of 30), led by Kyrie Irving (7 of 11), Kevin Durant (5 of 8), Yuta Watanabe and Lois Ohr. hon) shot. Neil (2-3) and he TJ Warren (2-4). In total, of his six players who shot from deep positions in Cleveland, five hit more than 50% of his. Only Edmond Sumner (0-of-1) did not hit the threshold. Nick Claxton, Ben Simmons and Patty Mills did not participate.
film room
warned preseasonTJ Warren could well have been an offseason stolen base. The prophecy is being fulfilled.
As we mentioned above, Warren was extraordinary when off the bench. His 21 goals in his 27 minutes showed everything that makes him such a deadly scorer. He’s adept from midrange, can fire short-range floaters, and from deep against the Cavaliers he can space the floor 2-for-4. Plus, he’s a very crafty cutter and would fit perfectly next to the star power of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Perhaps most of all, Warren has a tough shot-making gene that can’t be taught. .they don’t call him “”bubble godthere is nothing.
Seriously, his 6-10 foot touch is ridiculous. Throughout his career, Warren has consistently hit shots like this beautiful step-back 2-pointer, with a very solid 44.6 percent shooting from his 3ft to his 10ft. He’s a bit of a nostalgic player in that respect, a short midrange mercenary, and the perfect gap filler next to the star-like scoring talent and three-point shooting skills that litter Brooklyn’s roster.
Many thought that Sean Marks would never sign at least Jeff Greene, the deadly little guy in Brooklyn next to James Harden, Irving and Durant. He quickly became an indispensable role player in the unit.
Warren, who also signed the veteran minimum this offseason, might make them think twice.
milestone watch
Tonight it’s all Kevin Durant!
Durant hit a 21-foot jump shot at the 5:07 mark in the second quarter. But this wasn’t just a long two. This put him 15th on the all-time scoring list, surpassing Tim Duncan’s 26,496 career points. Next up is Dominique Wilkins with a total of 26,668 points.
Durant has passed Alex English, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, John Havlicek, Paul Pierce and now Tim Duncan on the all-time scoring list in just 34 games this season. . Next up was Dominic Wilkins (26,668), who ironically was the only player to fully recover from an Achilles injury before KD. With any luck, Durant could see him move up to No. 10 this season.
Durant also passed Kobe Bryant for the all-time three-pointer list. His KD, which has made 1,829 career 3s, now sits in his 21st slot on the list. Next up is his Chauncey Billups, which saw him make 1,830 threes throughout his NBA career.
As Spongebob says…
what’s next
The Nets head to Atlanta for the second road game of their three-game series against Trae Young, Dejounte Murray and the Hawks. He will begin reporting on the YES Network at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
For another perspective on tonight’s game, fear sworda sister site of the Cavaliers.
