Caris LeVert hits a career-high-tying 29 points and Suns have no answer

The sun and the moon set on Phoenix last night as the Brooklyn Nets dimmed the lights 119-97. With the win, the Nets improved to 22-27, while the Suns fell to 20-30 on the season with the loss. Additionally, the Nets improved to 5-1 this season in games in which they hold their opponent under 100 points this season.

How the Brooklyn Nets Won by the Numbers:

The Brooklyn Nets shot 48.3 percent (43-of-89) from the field versus the Phoenix Suns’ 43.3 percent (39-of-90) and the Nets outscored the Suns 54-42 (+12) in points in the paint.

The Nets also shot 44.1 percent (15-of-34) from 3-point range against the Suns’ 35.3 percent (6-of-17).

At the free-throw line, the Nets bested the Suns at the stripe, hitting 18 of 21 free throws compared to the Suns’ 13 of 18.

Brooklyn led Phoenix 35-31 at the end of the first quarter, 55-52 at halftime, and going into the fourth quarter, the Nets led the Suns 90-73.

Brooklyn edged Phoenix 44-43 on rebounding and 28-23 in assists.

The Brooklyn Nets’ Leading Scorers

With no Kyrie Irving in the lineup, Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson inserted Caris LeVert into the starting lineup who led all scorers with a career-high-tying 29 points with three rebounds, a season-high seven assists, and two steals in 32 minutes. Joe Harris recorded 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 28 minutes against the Suns; Taurean Prince scored 15 points (5-of-10 FG, 3-of-6 3FG, 2-of-2 FT) with six rebounds in 30 minutes; Spencer Dinwiddie posted 14 points, four assists, and three rebounds in 31 minutes, and; Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot came off the bench and scored in double figures for Brooklyn for the sixth time this season posting a season-high 13 points (4-of-7 FG, 3-of-4 3FG) and three rebounds in 25 minutes.

DeAndre Jordan didn’t hit double figures in scoring or rebounds, but he led the Nets in rebounding posting a team-high nine rebounds to go along with his eight points and five assists in 22 minutes off the bench.

Coach Speak: Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson on his team’s resilience after losing on Saturday to the Washington Wizards

“Like I’ve said, we have to start getting back some wins we left along the way, so this is a good start,” said Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. “It’s an important week for us, so I think the guys felt that. They felt the sense of urgency. I have a lot of respect for Phoenix. I know they’re banged up a little, but they really play good basketball, so it was one of our better wins of the year just on both sides of the ball. I thought we were good defensively and really shared it offensively.”

Coach Atkinson was thrilled about Caris LeVert’s performance against the Suns.

“Great timing,” said Coach Atkinson. “We needed it, especially with Ky (Kyrie Irving) going out. We needed it. He did it on both ends. The Devin Booker defense was excellent and of course, offensively really, really carried us. So great timing there.”

"It's one of those things where there's so many nights in the NBA where guys might go through four, five, six-game stretches where you're not playing your best basketball, but you can always turn it around and get it going for yourself,” Brooklyn Nets forward Joe Harris said about Caris LeVert’s performance. “And it's not something that's out of the ordinary for Caris. Everything stays consistent with him. Even if he's not making shots, he still does all the intangible stuff. He does all the hustle plays, activity. He stays locked in with the game plan. And tonight, he just made shots. He finished around the rim. He finished on the line. It's great to see that, great to see him get his confidence going. We need him to play that way in order for us to win here without Kyrie (Irving)."

Phoenix Suns’ Leading Scorers

Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton led his team with 25 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, and two blocked shots; Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 21 points and five rebounds in 39 minutes; Mikal Bridges posted 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and Devin Booker chipped in 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Coach Speak: Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams assessing his team's loss

“We just lost a bit of our poise tonight,” said Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams. “It was a three-point game at the half, and we didn’t make shots in the third quarter. I think our shot quality was decent. Brooklyn (Nets) packed the paint and dared us to shoot the ball and we couldn’t make shots. When you miss that many shots in a game it’s going to be tough. We gave up 13 threes when I took the guys out of the game. We had a 21-point third quarter and Brooklyn had 35 points. So, I thought that (the) third quarter did us in. Again, it was a moment like last night in Milwaukee in the third quarter. The competitive edge was there. I thought we let the officials get to us a little bit. Our competitive edge wanted it to be right and fair all of the time and sometimes it’s not that way, so we just have to keep battling.”

Were the 3-pointers the Nets hit defensive breakdowns or just hot shooting?

“We’re in the NBA with great NBA players,” said Phoenix Suns forward Kelly Oubre. “They have a lot of great guards on their team who find ways to get buckets. They got hot at one point in the game and you can’t do anything but go to the next possession and keep playing the right way. They punched first in the second half and they just continued to punch, so, it happens.”

What’s Next for the Phoenix Suns and the Brooklyn Nets?

The Phoenix Suns will travel to Detroit to face the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, at 7 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets will remain at home at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and host the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The Nets season-high win streak now stands at four; Wizards-Suns postgame trade announcement creates confusion

Last night, the Brooklyn Nets picked up their fourth straight win with its 125-118 victory over the Washington Wizards. With the win, the Nets improved to 12-18 overall and 5-10 at home, while the Wizards fell to 11-18 overall and 4-12 on the road with the loss.

Looking at how the Nets defeated the Wizards by the numbers, starting with teamwork, Brooklyn recorded a season-high 34 assists, edging the Wizards 34-30. The Nets recorded 19 of those assists in the first half, which marked Brooklyn’s most assists in a half this season. The Nets also shot .524 (44-of-84) from the field tonight, which marked their second-best field goal percentage in a game this season (behind a season-high .568 vs. Philadelphia on 11/25). The Nets also out-rebounded the Wizards 46-25 (+21). Washington’s 25 boards marked the fewest rebounds recorded by a Nets opponent this season, and the Nets’ +21 rebounding differential marked their best differential on the glass in a game this season. The previous high: 19 on two separate occasions.

The Nets led the Wizards 101-85 through three quarters, which marked the second time the Nets broke 100 points through three quarters this season. The Nets also led the Wizards 70-59 at halftime tonight, with their 70 points marking Brooklyn’s most points in a first half this season. Brooklyn also recorded 43 points in the second quarter tonight, marking the team’s highest-scoring quarter of the season.

“Good job closing it out,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said as he began to explained to the media the keys to the Nets win against the Washington Wizards. “I thought our execution at the end of the game was good on both ends. Not giving up threes, up nine up 10, and being disciplined. Not fouling. And then our offense, I thought we executed at the end. We had a couple of beautiful, we call them play with the pass highlights, where guys had a good shot and they threw it one more and had great shots.”

Spencer Dinwiddie scored a team-high 27 points (8-of-15 FG, 9-of-11 FT) with four rebounds and six assists in 32 minutes off the bench. In his last three games, he’s averaged 30.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 30.5 minutes per contest. Dinwiddie entered tonight's game as the league's leading scorer off the bench (17.3 ppg). Joe Harris tallied 19 points with a season-high six assists, two rebounds, one steal and one block in 31 minutes. Rodions Kurucs posted a career-high 15 points with a career-high-tying six rebounds in 30 minutes in his first career start tonight. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson also recorded 15 points tonight, along with nine rebounds, a season-high-tying six assists and one steal in 32 minutes. Both DeMarre Carroll and Jarrett Allen scored 12 points.

The Nets are beginning to show their ability to close out games and Coach Atkinson explained how his team began to make the shift.

“I think going through those struggles, number one, helps you,” Atkinson explained. “When we went through those struggles, we had the player film session, and then after coaches just really focusing on the fourth quarter execution and the game execution, so I think that helps. I think not turning the ball over is huge, taking care of the ball. And quite honestly, we made some shots. We made the extra pass and made some shots. But our defensive execution, the silly mistakes we were making, the fouling the shooter, not running the guy off the three-point line, there are so many examples it’s hard to give. I’m giving you 10 instead of one, but that’s really the story of our failures in the fourth quarter. It was a multitude of things. We just collectively, across the board, did a better job in those situations.”

“Players only, baby – players-only film session,” is how Dinwiddie explained the Nets win streak. “JD (Jared Dudley) did a wonderful job in our film session of just helping us. It also spurred some communication. Now we’re kind of rolling a little bit. Let’s keep it going. Let’s never get too high or too low.”

Although the Wizards lost, it too, also had six players scoring in double digits. Bradley Beal led all scorers with 31 points and nine assists.

“He’s an All-Star player,” Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said in praise of Bradley Beal. “He brings it. He spreads his offense all the way around. He’s not a selfish player. He looks for his team. That’s one of his biggest improvements, of making his teammates get easy buckets. He had nine assists. Brad is good. We just have to get stops. The team seems to give up 40-point quarters. It’s hard to generate enough points if you don’t make shots at a high level. You have to somehow get stops.”

Wizard starters John Wall registered 17 points and 13 assists, and; Jeff Green tallied 12 points. The Wizards’ second unit scoring leaders were Markieff Morris with 15 points and three rebounds; Austin Rivers contributed 14 points, three rebounds and three assists, and; Kelly Oubre Jr., chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.

The Wizards and the Nets appear to be evenly matched, so what prevented the Wizards from winning according to Coach Brooks?

“We could not get any stops, especially in that second quarter when Brooklyn busted out and scored 43 points,” said Coach Brooks. “In that second half, we couldn’t keep them off of that free-throw line. We couldn’t stay in front of the basketball. When you have those issues, you’re going to have trouble winning a game, whether it’s on the road or at home. You have to man up and get in front of the basketball and stay in front of it and not always have help. We put them on the free-throw line when we couldn’t stay in front of them.”

NEXT UP

The Washington Wizards will face the Los Angeles Lakers at home in Washington, DC on December 16, 2018. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets will face the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, December 16, 2018, at home at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. 

TIP-INS:

During the postgame press session, a news report stated that a deal was in place to send Trevor Ariza to the Wizards, Kelly Oubre to the Grizzlies, and Austin Rivers, Wayne Selden, and a person with the last name Brooks to the Suns. Which "Brooks" was a mystery. There was confusion whether it was to be Dillon or MarShon Brooks included in the deal. The Wizards players named in the deal were in shock and obviously not too happy.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson leads Nets with 21 points, 11 rebounds, and a career-high-tying six assists in win over Wizards; only two Wizards in double digits

At last…yes, at last, the Brooklyn Nets played a good team in a manner that displays their real talents, and in so doing, defeated the Washington Wizards on Friday night at the Barclays Center 119-84.

According to NBA stats, tonight’s 35-point win marked Brooklyn’s largest victory of the season. It is also the third-most lopsided win in Barclays Center history behind a 37-point victory, 117-80, over Washington on April 10, 2015, and; a 36-point victory, 130-94, over Philadelphia on December 16, 2013.

Yeah, this is the same Brooklyn Nets team that just two days prior allowed the Sacramento Kings on the second night of its back-to-back to come into Barclays Center and deny the Nets a win, defeating Brooklyn 104-99. It begs the question, how did this turnaround happen so quickly and it turns out that the Nets weren’t short on answers.

“We talked about it this morning, about how important this game was for us,” Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Harris said. “Washington is a great team, especially now with John Wall back. So for us to come out and play the way we did, full four quarters, we are happy about it and we want to build off of it and get one tomorrow in Indiana and go into the holiday on the right note.”

“I don’t think the guys, I don’t think any of us were too comfortable after that Sacramento loss, it hurt,” Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson told the media. “It was a bad loss. No disrespect to Sacramento, but they were on a back-to-back and I think we all felt frustrated that we didn’t show the right mentality for where we are. It was nice to get back on track a little bit tonight…”

“I thought our mindset from the tipoff was good,” Atkinson added. “I thought that first group really decided to get some stops and brought the energy and brought the defense. Then after that it was kind of everybody got on the train, got on board and a lot of guys played well.”

Currently, the Washington Wizards are an Eastern Conference playoff contender, albeit sitting at the eighth position, while the Nets are still sitting in the 11th spot in the East. So, were the Wizards complacent with no sense of urgency?

“I don’t think so,” Wizards guard John Wall responded, who scored 10 points in just under 17 minutes. “We came out missing easy shots, didn’t take care of the ball. Then when they got out in transition they scored some baskets. They just played with more energy and I think we lost both games because they played with more energy than we played with.”

Wizards head coach Scott Brooks, who was a little more direct, summed up the loss this way, “we got our butts kicked, we all did, myself included. Give Brooklyn credit, they played a good basketball game. We couldn’t stay in front of the basketball tonight. We just seemed like a step slow all the way around. We’ve got to play better. We have to show more physicality and we have to show more toughness. We’ve got to show more resolve and we didn’t do that tonight.”

“In order to win in this league, it doesn’t matter who you play, no matter what the record the team has, you still have to go out there and compete in order to win,” Brooks added. “And we didn’t give ourselves a chance to do that tonight.”

Only two Wizards players scored 10 or more points; Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 13 points and Wall added 10 points. The Wizards’ bench added 48 points compared to 53 points from the Nets’ bench.

Six Nets players led the night in double digits. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored his team-leading fifth double-double of the season with 21 points, 11 rebounds, a career-high-tying six assists (which he has achieved twice previously) and one block in just under 24 minutes. Caris LeVert recorded 17 points (7-of-9 FG, 2-of-2 3FG, 1-of-1 FT) with six rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. Spencer Dinwiddie, DeMarre Carroll, and Nik Stauskas each scored 15 points, and Carroll added six rebounds. Nets rookie Jarrett Allen chipped in 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

While Tyler Zeller, Allen Crabbe, and Quincy Acy did not score in double digits, their rebounding was critical to the Nets success tonight, scoring nine, eight and seven rebounds respectively.

Brooklyn also out-rebounded the Wizards, as a whole, 60-35.

Joe Harris led the Nets in assists with seven.

Overall, the Nets’ win had a number of redeeming qualities.

“…Now the question is, can we do it again another night, go to Indiana and see if we can compete the same way defensively,” stated Atkinson.

The Nets play the Indiana Pacers on Saturday in Indiana at 7:00 p.m.

Tip in:

Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie scored all of his 15 points in the third quarter in eight minutes. Dinwiddie is the second Nets player to accomplish this feat this season. DeMarre Carroll, who scored 15 points and six rebounds tonight is the other Nets Player that scored 15 points in a quarter. Carroll accomplished this feat on November 29, 2017, against the Dallas Mavericks at Dallas, also in the third quarter.

The Brooklyn Nets back from “home games” in Mexico City send the Wizards home with a loss despite Bradley Beal leading all scorers with 28 points

The Brooklyn Nets (10-15) were back in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center on Tuesday night to play the Washington Wizards (14-12) and eked out a 103-98 win. Surprising, not because the Wizards are sixth in the Eastern Conference standings and the Nets are in the 11th spot, but because the Nets just returned from a two-game set of “home games” in Mexico City, where the altitude can wreak havoc on your body.

“I was pleasantly surprised at our energy,” said Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson during a postgame presser. “I thought we had great energy. Definitely worried about the trip and the travel but the guys did a great job. Great job by our performance team. They get these guys ready, they do all the cold tub and massage and they do a fantastic job taking care of these guys. I think that was the key. We had great energy.”

At the half, the Nets had the slimmest of leads, one point, at 52-51. Team black and white went on an 11-0 run in the third quarter, racking up a 14-point lead. It didn’t last long as Washington went on a 14-2 run cutting the difference to one point.

In the final stanza, both teams went back and forth each playing with a one-point lead. And then with 44 seconds left in the game, it was suddenly hold onto the edge of your seats as holy cow Allen Crabbe hit a game-saving 3-pointer to put Brooklyn up 100-98.

Folks were a little nervous because up until Crabbe hit that three, Crabbe had been struggling with his three-point shot.

When asked about making that three at such a crucial point in the game, Crabbe responded, "I think it was just that I don't care attitude. If you miss, you miss."

“I trusted him,” Atkinson told the media. “He’s a 40 percent 3-point shooter, second-best 3-point shooter in the league. I still have confidence in him and great pass by Spencer (Dinwiddie). Spencer had a choice of getting to the rim or Allen (Crabbe) sets a back screen and pops. So he had the choice and Spencer did a really good job finding him and trusting it.”

Next, the Wizard’s Bradley Beal missed a potential game-tying pull-up jumper and Dinwiddie was then fouled, making one of two free throws to increase the lead to 101-98. With seven seconds left, Washington’s Kelly Oubre Jr. was fouled sending Caris LeVert to the line. LeVert made both of his free throws putting the Nets up 103-98 over the Wizards. At the one-second mark, Beal missed a three-pointer which enabled the Nets to pull off a 103-98 win.

All of Brooklyn’s starters scored in double digits. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson led the Nets’ starters with 16 points and 12 rebounds, DeMarre Carroll had 15 points and 8 rebounds, Crabbe scored 13 points and five rebounds, Tyler Zeller chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds, and Dinwiddie also put up a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists.

The second unit double-digit scorers were LeVert who scored 16 points and 8 assists, and rookie Jarrett Allen who added 11 points.

For Washington, Beal led all scorers with 28 points, Oubre had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench, while Otto Porter Jr. scored 11 points and five rebounds.

The Wizards will face Memphis on Wednesday, which is the opener of a four-game homestand.

The Nets face the New York Knicks at home at the Barclays Center on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.