Nets vs. Lakers preview: Back home to meet up with LeBron and Luka

SB Nation

Finally home. The Brooklyn Nets closed out their five game road trip with a Sunday night tilt against the Eastern Conference leading Detroit Pistons. The Nets were never in it and got stomped out by the Pistons 130-77.

A loss is a loss, I guess?

The opponent tonight is trying to break into that contenders tier. The Los Angeles Lakers are the center of attention in the NBA, but they aren’t where they really want to be yet. They’ve been on the road the past few weeks thanks to the Grammys and tonight is the last night of their eight game road trip. Fortunately for them, they’ve been in New York the past few days so they won’t experience any jet lag tonight. They took on the Knicks Sunday night at the Garden and lost 112-100. Getaway day is the best day.

Where to follow the game

YES Network on TV. Gotham Sports on streaming. WFAN on radio. Tip after 7:30 PM.

🤕 Injuries

No Haywood Highsmith. Ziaire Williams and Noah Clowney are questionable. All three two-ways are in Long Island and Ben Saraf is still with Brooklyn.

Adou Thiero is out. Austin Reaves is close to returning, and is listed as questionable. Bronny James is questionable as well.

🏀 The game

Two days away. The trade deadline is fast approaching and teams need to figure out what to do. The Lakers are always in the market, but two players they reportedly had in mind were traded for each other over the weekend. A valuable lesson you can take going forward: NEVER trust the Sacramento Kings to make good decisions.

If the Lakers want to make it back to the Finals for the first time since 2020, they’re going to have to start defending at a higher level. LA is 25th in defensive rating, allowing 117.1 points per 100 possessions. I can’t think of any contender with a defense this porous. JJ Redick has a lot to work on before the season is out, and if the Lakers fall short once again, they’ll enter the off-season with a lot of uncertainty facing them.

At the very least, they have the franchise star in tow for the foreseeable future. Luka Doncic is still one of the game’s brightest stars. He’s an engine that controls the offense in a few that few people ever have in basketball history. Doncic can do just about everything imaginable on that side of the ball and is someone you trust to make the right play every time he has the ball in his hands. However, his efforts on defense leave a lot to be desired and if he can’t give you a C+ effort on that end, things get troublesome.

Feel like we’ve been saying it a lot recently, but how will the Nets respond after a 50 point beatdown? They can’t afford to fall behind in the ways that they have been due to their talent discrepancy. And on a night where there will be a lot of purple and gold in the building, falling behind by a bunch early will make for a LONG night in Brooklyn.

Having Noah Clowney back should help the Nets on the glass. LA is 11th in the league in rebounding while the Nets are near the bottom of the ranks. The Nets will try to keep Jaxson Hayes and DeAndre Ayton off the boards as best as they can. Ayton’s numbers look nice, but he’s generally been ok from everything I’ve read from Lakers reporters I keep up with. Considering so many people wanted Ayton out the NBA not too long ago, that’s not too bad!

So will this be Cam Thomas’ last home game as a member of the Nets? The Milwaukee Bucks reportedly have interest in him, but no moves have been made as of yet. If he does go, Steve Lichtenstein has a nice synopsis of where CT is at this point in his career:

“Of course, any new club should know what they’re getting with Thomas, whose shot selection and defense have been the source of endless criticism. The fact is that he has yet to show he can be a winning player—the Nets’ best stretch of basketball this season occurred while he was out of the lineup in December. He has the team’s lowest defensive rating and fourth-worst net rating.

But Thomas can get buckets. The Nets don’t beat the Jazz without Thomas’ 14 points on seven field goal attempts in the second quarter. Few players have his ability to create looks on his own and then make the high-degree-of-difficulty shots. Don’t discount his knack for drawing fouls, a useful skill for playoff basketball.“

A good showing against a playoff team could impress any last minute suitors out there.

👀 Player to watch: LeBron James

Time waits for no man. We’re starting to draw closer to the end of a historical, genre defining career. And when you start to zoom out and look at the scope of everything, it really puts things into perspective

Wow.

This is year 23 for LeBron James, and the legend is doing his best to stay in the game. He’s at career lows in minutes per game and usage rate as JJ Redick and the Lakers coaching staff do their best to nurse him through the regular season. The hope is he’s as close to full strength as possible when the playoffs begin so he can play with no restrictions. Before we get there, we’re going to get nights where he’s non-existent on defense or just playing at an average level. However, when the moment calls for it, he can still dial it up and deliver a vintage performance. And who knows, maybe this is the last time James plays in Brooklyn. Enjoy these moments while you still can.

Michael Porter Jr is expected back tonight. MPJ missed Sunday’s game due to a death in the family, and we send our condolences to him and his loved ones. He’ll get a chance to match up with James and build a case to be an All-Star injury replacement. He had a chance to make the team outright, but NBA coaches went in a different direction. Either way, an opportunity to compete against an all time great is always worth getting up for, so look for Porter Jr to be locked in early.

📺 From the Vault

I was in Philadelphia for Unrivaled over the weekend, and before I left town, I got a chance to check out the Ruth E. Carter “Afrofuturism in Costume Design” exhibit at the African American Museum in Philly. Two films Ruth worked on were Malcolm X and Black Panther, so let’s take two trips back in time