Nets vs. Jazz game preview: MPJ a surprise scratch after big game

MPJ is out but local product Egor Demin is ready as is Cam Thomas.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

The opponent tonight continues on the rebuilding road. The Utah Jazz lost to the Golden State Warriors at home on Wednesday night. The Nets, down five players mostly due to injury management on a back-to-back, played a tight game with another injury-laden club, the Denver Nuggets. Their missing man formation was due mostly to nagging injuries to stars like Nikola Jokic, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun. In the end, despite former Nugget Michael Porter Jr.’s 38-point, 10-rebound, seven

3-pointer evening, the home team prevailed in a tight one.

Where to follow the game

YES Network on TV. WFAN on radio. Gotham Sports on streaming. Tip after 9:30 PM.

🤕 Injuries

In a bit of a surprise, Michael Porter Jr. is out for personal reasons. So too are Noah Clowney, Ziaire Williams and Haywood Highsmith. Egor Demin and Cam Thomas will be back. E.J. Liddell and Ben Saraf are apparently staying with the big club. Long Island doesn’t have a game till after Brooklyn gets home over the weekend.

Lauri Markkanen (rest), Jusuf Nurkic (illness) and Kevin Love (illness) are out Cody Williams is questionable.

🏀 The game

Utah won the first meeting.

In the tanking race, the Nets are rising (falling?). After Thursday night’s losses, the Nets are now one of five teams in the race for the firm of Peterson, Dybantsa and Boozer with 12 wins, the others being the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans (whose pick will go to the Hawks), the Indiana Pacers and the Washington Wizards. Officially, because the Nets have the fewest losses, they rank fourth in the Tankathon rankings.

The Jazz meanwhile have three more wins and rank sixth. They took tanking to an art form last season by resting Lauri Markkanen and wound up with Ace Bailey who the Jazz took over BYU’s Egor Demin. So far, so good for the Nets. Demin made the Rising Stars team this week; Bailey did not.

Indeed this will be a big deal for the Nets rookie. He’ll be coming home to Utah, not far from the BYU campus in Provo where his coach was one of his biggest supporters. Kevin Young (who had been a candidate for the job the Nets filled with Jordi Fernandez) spoke exclusively with Brian Lewis of the Post on why he was perplexed that Demin wasn’t taken earlier than No. 8.

“I’m biased, obviously, but I wasn’t convinced that he didn’t have the second-most upside in that draft class,” Young told Lewis. “I mean, just look at — the NBA is made of guys that are that size that have a skill set. It’s not made up of a bunch of 6’-2”, 6’4” guards. … His upside is through the roof.

“Most kids that come, it’s like, ‘Man, if this kid can ever learn how to shoot,’ you know,” Young added, “and obviously, I think he’s fast-tracked that and that puts him in a position to expand other parts of his game now because I think that’s something that he and the Nets have grown to rely on.”

Indeed, Demin who’s shooting as well as any of his fellow rookies this month has a chance to break an NBA record on his return. He tied an NBA rookie record Tuesday with a 33rd consecutive game with a made 3-pointer, something you could have gotten pretty good odds against back on Draft Night.

Bailey, the Rutgers star, hasn’t played badly. In fact, he and Demin have similar numbers – Bailey is averaging 11.3 points on 46/35/72 shooting — but Demin is seen as more of a leader owing to the opportunity he has gotten with the Nets. However, Bailey is averaging 19.2 points on 51.9% shooting in his last five games, showcasing his potential as a lethal scorer, as Sports Illustrated notes.

👀 Player to Watch: Keyonte George

You see the growth happening in real time. The 22-year-old 6’4” Baylor product is having himself a year. Now in his third season, he’s averaging 24.1 points and 6.6 assists. He’s also been something he wasn’t so much in his first two years.

“For me, the main thing this season is consistency,” he said recently. “The shots I’m taking are cleaner. I understand the game more now. I still have more to learn, but I see it better. Every game is different, so I’m just trying to play the game.”

He says that his improvement is in part the result of his learning from the Jazz veterans.

“I’ve been leaning on my vets,” George said. “Georges [Niang] tells me, ‘Get to the spot,’ and Kyle [Anderson] tells me, ‘Beat your man to the three — that makes something happen.’ I’m just trying to figure all that out.”

And he’s not done, obviously.

“I feel like it’s been a fast progression this year,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of different coverages and defenders. Learning on the fly is something my player development staff and I have really focused on.”

And George notes, he’s had another guiding hand.

“I couldn’t ask for more — just trust the work, trust the process, trust the organization and what they want to do with me and the team,” George said. “I’ve been trusting the work and taking the pressure off myself. I walk with the Lord every day, so putting the pressure on Him instead of me has really helped me.”