Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson score career-highs, Caris LeVert leads Nets 2nd Unit, but team could not capitalize on Porzingas absence

For this reporter, being at the Barclays Center last night watching the Brooklyn Nets get routed by the New York Knicks was a bit surreal. It wasn’t that the Knicks defeated the Nets 111-104, but the atmosphere didn’t feel like a Nets home game. The home crowd was overrun by Knicks fans. The Nets entertainment team was hard-pressed to get a response from Nets fans to engage in its usual t-shirt toss and other activities. Who turns down a free t-shirt? Even if the Nets isn’t your team, it’s the holidays, give it away to a Nets fan. Next, as I was checking in on Facebook, every business came up as if I was at Madison Square Garden. Seriously, Facebook; I’m in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.

Now back to the Nets game against the Knicks. Although the Nets seemed to be off-kilter, there were flashes of brilliance. Both Spencer Dinwiddie and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson put in strong performances for the Nets scoring career-highs of 26 and 25 points, and seven rebounds respectively.

“I was just fortunate to hit shots,” Dinwiddie said about his performance against the Knicks on Thursday. “Last game, I couldn’t hit the side of a barn so today they went in and looked like a better game. That’s really it.”

Other Nets scoring leaders were Caris LeVert, who added 15 points, 5 rebounds, and five assists; and DeMarre Carroll chipped in 13 points. Tyler Zeller didn’t cross the double-digit line in points for the Nets, but he led the Nets in rebounds with eight.

The Nets’ bench is rated second in the NBA, but last night, the second unit just couldn’t find its rhythm, only mustering up 27 points. Meanwhile, the Knicks bench put up 45 points.

“I thought their second unit came in and just really took the game over,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson told the media in his postgame presser. “Similar to the first game [against the Knicks], they turned up their pressure, their physicality really. I thought they were the much more physical team.”

Yes, the Knicks were very physical and proud of it.

Even the Nets three-point shooting was off as a result of the Knicks physicality. Brooklyn hit 12 of its 42 three-point shots partly because the Knicks’ physicality forced the Nets to take bad shots. Joe Harris, the Nets G/F, is a three-point specialist and Harris shot 1 for 7. Allen Crabbe, who has had a rough go of it lately, shot just 1 for 8, including 1 for 7 from behind the arc.

New York Knicks center Kristaps Porzingas, who proved nearly unguardable, left the game in the second quarter with an injured knee and the Nets could not take advantage of his absence for a “W” mainly because of the Knicks’ physical play.

For the Knicks, Courtney Lee led all scorers with 27 points. Michael Beasley scored 15 points; both Porzingas and Enes Kanter had 13 points with Kanter putting up nine rebounds, and Kyle O’Quinn was the leading rebounder for the Knicks with 10 rebounds.

Up next, the Knicks will host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, which will be Carmelo Anthony’s first visit to Madison Square Garden since leaving the team this season.

The Nets will visit the Toronto Raptors today and it will mark DeMarre Carroll’s first return to Toronto since leaving the Raptors. The Nets’ next home game is Sunday, December 17, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. against the Indiana Pacers at the Barclays Center.

The Brooklyn Nets closes out its preseason with an eye on progress, development, and improvement

Instead of starting this article at the beginning, I am going to start at the end of the first half of last night’s Brooklyn Nets’ preseason game against the New York Knicks.

The Nets ended the first half leading the Knicks by two points, with a score of 57-55. If you have watched the Nets in previous seasons since coming to the Barclays Center, you probably noticed a different style of play on the floor. The Nets under new management, general manager Sean Marks, and head coach Kenny Atkinson, have mandated and are stressing a new culture of “team” over “I” or “me” translating into unselfishness. Watching the Nets during the last two games, the team’s buy-in to the new system is apparent. Guys were playing unselfishly, the ball moved around, it was definitely team ball. In addition to the two-point lead at the half, the Nets led the Knicks in most of the measurable metrics that matter: field goal percentage 52.6 vs the Knicks 48.9 percent; three-point shots 46.7 vs the Knicks 20 percent, and the Nets made 91 percent of their free-throws compared to the Knicks 64 percent. However, the Knicks did outscore the Nets on rebounds; by half-time, the Knicks out-rebounded the Nets 20-18, which was a sign of things to come.

So, where did the Nets breakdown happen?

The Knicks took a nine-point lead in the third quarter on fast breaks, gaining 49 percent field goal shooting over the Nets’ 46 percent. The Knicks also out-rebounded the Nets; ending the third with a rebound score of 38-24, picking up 18 rebounds in the third quarter to the Nets’ four.

This was not lost on Atkinson.

“I think I said it before, I think rebounding is an issue right now and I think transition defense is something we need to work on, Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said at the Nets post-game press conference. “They had a fair amount of fast break points so those are some areas we have to get better at.”

#Truth.

Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin led all scorers with 24 points and 10 assists. However, unlike the Knicks, the Nets only had two starters in double digits; the other being center Brook Lopez who supplied 12 points.

The Nets other double-digit scorers came from the bench Joe Harris scored 15 points, Bojan Bogdanovic added 12 points, and Justin Hamilton chipped in 11 points.

Carmelo Anthony led Knicks scorers with 21 points. Starters Courtney Lee dropped 15 points and five rebounds; and Joakim Noah supplied 12 points and six rebounds.

Both benches contributed 59 points; coming off the Knicks bench in double digits were Justin Holiday with 14 points, Kyle Quinn added 13 points and seven rebounds, and Mindaugas Kuzminskas chipped in 10 points.

“I was proud of our guys at the end,” Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek said about his secondary line. “They ended up putting their starters back in I think with a nine or 10-point game and when they went out it was eight points.”

Even in the loss, Atkinson complimented his players, as he should have.

“I complimented them on their effort and despite the record, I think we’ve made progress,” Atkinson told the media. “And that’s going to be our message all year, progress, development, improvement. We obviously have areas we have to improve in but again, 10 new players and I like a lot of stuff I see. I think where we are right now is be a little bit more consistent. And that’s the tough part in the NBA over a 48-minute game, to do it longer than the other team. So that’s the overall positive message.”

The Brooklyn Nets are now focused on the regular season. The Nets first regular season game is against the Boston Celtics in Boston on Wednesday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m. The Nets open up at home at the Barclays Center against the Indiana Pacers on Friday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Perhaps, the fans will give Thaddeus Young a warm welcome when he hits the hardwood for the Indiana Pacers.

The Nets dealt Young to the Pacers on NBA Draft night for Caris LeVert, the No. 20 overall pick and for a future second-round pick. Levert did not play last night because he is out with an injured left foot.

Kemba Walker key in spoiling Nets post All-Star Break win streak

The Charlotte Hornets traveled to Brooklyn to take on the Nets on Sunday evening. It would be a homecoming for Hornets point guard Kemba Walker who was born and raised in the Bronx. Coming to play the Nets has not been a pleasant homecoming for Walker as he has yet to record a win on the road against the Nets in his career thus far. Brooklyn entered the game determined to keep that tradition alive while the Hornets were looking to extend their winning streak to five games in a row.

Both teams had shakeups to their respective rosters with the Hornets acquiring former Nets guard Courtney Lee from Memphis and the Nets playing their first game since Andrea Bargnani was waived. Brooklyn needed to be able to contain the driving ability of Walker and his backup former NY Knick Jeremy Lin.

The Hornets would double team at times around the basket leaving Nets shooters open on the perimeter. When the perimeter shots didn’t fall, the Nets were able to penetrate the defense and gained an advantage in points in the paint 16-10 in the first quarter. Due to poor shooting by the Nets, the Hornets were able to extend their lead to 15 points, but the determined Nets closed the gap to 8 at halftime.

The third quarter saw the Nets struggle to contain the Hornets offense and trailed by 17 points. However, Brooklyn was not ready to be counted out. Showing their scrappy side, the Nets went on a run that brought them within four with just under five minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Nets would get as turnovers at crucial moments proved detrimental. Kemba Walker made key plays to propel the Hornets past the Nets 104-96.