The Long Island Nets returned to the Nassau Coliseum court on Sunday afternoon for their second of two games with the Capital City Go Go, the Wizards G League affiliate. Long Island opened its season with a win
on Friday night but despite another very competitive gam4, lightning didn’t strike twice as Long Island fell to Capital City, 112-105, to split the opening weekend.
Brooklyn’s three rookies – Danny Wolf, Nolan Traore, and Ben Saraf – remained with the team’s G League club on Sunday their second game at the G League level. They’re in Uniondale to get reps in and stack days. And once again, it was Danny Wolf, the last of the Nets five first rounders taken in the June Draft, who shined.
Wolf, who started the first half of Friday’s game abysmally, has looked very good since. He finished Friday’s game against Capital City with a double-double, and not much changed on Sunday. Wolf remained the top scorer for Long Island, finishing the game with 23 points and also picking up 13 rebounds, giving him two game averages of 19.0 points and 12.0 rebounds.
Wolf spoke to NetsDaily on his performance after the game.
“I’m not exactly worried about the stats; it’s more about winning this game,” Wolf says. “Tough loss though. We played pretty hard in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter. Didn’t go our way. I thought there were some things which looked good out there, but also some things we have to clean up. Tough loss.”
This marked Wolf’s second double-double in as many games. With this performance, Wolf joined Noah Clowney and Day’Ron Sharpe as the only Nets to record consecutive double-doubles to begin their NBA G League careers. Watching Wolf on the court, you get the impression he’s becoming more of a leader on the team, calling plays, and getting himself very involved. ND asked him about this after the game.
“It’s my first time in an environment like this,” said Wolf who played collegiate ball at Yale and Michigan. “Obviously, it’s only my second G League game, but I think it’s a great group of guys out there, and it’s easy to play with them. Everyone is playing for the right reasons and playing the right way, most importantly. I think it’s everyone just playing together that makes everything easier.”
Wolf also had two assists, one steal, and a block. Compared to his game on Friday night, when he shot 4-of-16 overall after his rough 2-of-10 start, Wolf righted those wrongs Sunday, connecting on nine of his 18 shots.
As for Ben Saraf, he finished Sunday’s game with 15 points, connecting on five of his 13 shot attempts off the bench. This comes after his impressive showing on Friday, when he made history with over 20 points off the bench in his first NBA G League game. “It was a good experience for me,” Saraf says of his historic performance on Friday to ND. “I think the first game for us as a group was better; we need to bounce back for the next game.”
With his 15-point showing, Saraf became the first player in Long Island’s storied history to score 15+ points off the bench in each of his first two NBA G League games. Saraf also had three assists. However, Saraf did have a down game shooting from deep as he only landed one of his seven shot attempts from the beyond the arc.
“I feel like, as a group, we want to shoot over 43%,” Saraf told ND of the Nets 3-point shooting. “So, every time I went to the three, I wanted to shoot it. I’m going to keep doing it, and I’m going to make them.”
The biggest downside of Saraf’s game came in the turnover department. He turned the ball over five times in this game. Saraf wasn’t the only culprit of turning the ball over five times, as fellow rookie Nolan Traore was right there with him. Overall, Long Island had 17.
Traore had a better game shooting the ball, which was an upside. He connected on four of 11 shot attempts, including nailing one of his three attempts from deep for 15 points. “There are games you don’t make shots, and there are games you make them,” Traore said. “But, you just keep working, and there are some games you don’t make some. That’s it.”
Traore also had a good game from the foul line, hitting three of his four attempts. However, his assist numbers were down largely from the last game, finding a teammate successfully only once.
Grant Nelson made his G League debut tonight after missing Friday’s game with a minor leg injury. He finished with eight points and seven boards.
“It’s been great, everything they said it would be, and a lot of respect to them for that,” Nelson says. “It’s been a lot of fun with this group of guys. I just like the coaching staff and all my teammates. I’m ready to get better with them and win a bunch of games.”
Nelson wasted little time making his presence felt, finishing with 10 points in 20 minutes. Nelson flirted with a double-double in his first game with Long Island, also finishing with eight rebounds. He also had a steal to his credit. NetsDaily asked him about his first game at the G League level after the game.
“It was just more good to get back on the court,” said Nelson who played for the Nets in the Summer League. “To finally play against people other than ourselves, I think it was just fun. It was good to get accommodated to the G League and how everything works. It was just a lot of fun.”
Yuri Collins looked more like himself in this one as well, finishing with eight points and six assists. The assists should come as no surprise to anyone who knows Collins He was the G League’s top playmaker last year. Nate Williams, the shooting guard acquired in the trade for Drew Timme, had eight points, while David Muoka notched four.
Long Island struggled to slow down Keshon Gilbert, who scored 24 points from the Capital City defense. Alongside Gilbert, starter Skal Labissiere picked up 23 points, carving up the Long Island defense.
Long Island held the Go-Go scoreless over the first three minutes, and the Nets’ reserves got off to a strong start in the first, with all five bench players who saw action scoring at least once. Capital City led by three after the opening period, 26-23. Long Island went on a 19-7 run from the 1:09 mark of the first quarter to 7:21 in the second frame, but the Go-Go closed the first half ahead by seven, 55-48, despite being outrebounded by a margin of 23-16 before the break.
Ben Saraf put up 11 points in the third to give Long Island a spark off the bench, but the Nets trailed by 16 entering the final quarter. Long Island fought back in the fourth, going on a 14-3 run from 11:30 to 7:33 in the final period, but fell short to pick up the team’s first loss of the season.
The game drew 2,507 fans to the afternoon contest.
Final Score: Capital City Go-Go 112, Long Island Nets 105.
Next Up
The Long Island Nets (1-1) return to the court on Friday, November 14th, as they travel north to Portland, ME, to take on the Maine Celtics. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. EST and can be viewed on the NBA G League and Long Island Nets respective websites.
