The Brooklyn Nets picked up their second win in a row tonight, and while they played winning basketball by all accounts, it felt like the Memphis Grizzlies set it down on the ground for them and walked away.
If you ask me, that’s pretty unbecoming of a bear at a time where many are coming out of hibernation.
The Nets held Michael Porter Jr. out tonight due to rest. They also started Drake Powell, who spent the last week and a half, with Long Island. By putting him alongside Nolan Traoré, Danny Wolf,
Noah Clowney, and Nic Claxton, the Nets started three rookies for a third time this season.
However, the Grizzlies had an even stronger handicap. If you’re a Nets fans infatuated with the Memphis Hustle, this was the game for you. Their list of inactives included Ja Morant, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Zach Edey, Brandon Clarke, Taylor Hendricks, Scotty Pippen Jr., Santi Aldama, Ty Jerome, Taj Gibson and Cedric Coward. That left them with only eight players available, three being two-ways. Their rotation also lacked a true center, as they opened with GG Jackson at the five.
Claxton relished his opportunity as the only adult in the room. Most of Brooklyn’s early offensive sets centered around him as he scored six of Brooklyn’s first eight points.
Nevertheless, Memphis controlled the contest early on, starting it 6-8 from deep. Rayan Rupert, one of the aforementioned two-ways, led everyone with eight first period points while shooting 2-4 from three. He and Memphis’ rag tag crew even went up on Brooklyn by as many as 10 in that frame.
However, the Nets closed it on an equally sized run to retake the lead, which they’d hold for far longer. Ben Saraf, running around like a penguin on melting ice beforehand, hit Ziaire Williams with a perfect pass to set up a the high-arching three that capped it off…
Then in the second, it was Ochai Agbaji’s turn. He snagged seven points for the Nets in the period’s first three minutes, leveraging his speed and size on the break in the process. He also hit a triple in that stretch, making himself 13-29 on threes now in Brooklyn. He finished tonight with a season high 18 points on 8-9 shooting.
However, if we’re going to talk about shooting from deep, we should really start with Traoré. He hasn’t shied away from the arc this year, but he hasn’t exactly threatened defenses from their either, coming into the game shooting 32.2% on 2.9 attempts per game.
Perhaps the Memphis defense read into those numbers too much. Perhaps Traoré wanted to save his makes for later in the season. Either way, he started the game a perfect 3-3 from deep and quickly helped the Nets build their won double digit advantage.
But even as the Nets shot a crisp 7-13 from three in the first half, they never forgot about their advantage on the interior. Brooklyn continued to attack the paint in transition and the halfcourt, posting a +12 advantage there in the first half. Just behind Traoré, who had 11 points along with an a assist and block, Brooklyn’s bigs in Claxton (10) and Sharpe (9) were their second and third leading scorers at halftime.
The Nets likely would have led by more than eight at halftime had they not turned it over 10 times and allowed Memphis to shoot 9-20 from deep. But despite the first half spotlight Brooklyn’s perimeter defense as the main barrier separating the Nets from a win, they either still couldn’t see it or couldn’t get around it all the same.
The Grizzlies began the second half 3-6 from deep and quickly cut the lead to one less than four minutes into the third. A Danny Wolf at center experiment midway through the period went awry too, as Memphis even swung back against Brooklyn inside, managing to win there in the period 14-10.
And again, the Grizzlies got close, but not back in front of the Nets. Each time they inched closer, the Nets tapped the gas pedal to stay up one or two possessions. Wolf even redeemed some of his rough defensive sequences at the other end, or at least by heaving the ball into it…
Day’Ron Sharpe proceeded to take it from there. Coming in for Wolf to begin the fourth, he added seven points in less than three minutes to lead Brooklyn on a 14-4 run. In the process, Sharpe showed he can put the ball through the rim with feel and force, hitting a three before doing this moments later…
After the dust settled following Sharpe’s seismic boom, the scoreboard showed the Nets up by more than two touchdowns. Powell, Agbaji, and Jalen Wilson, who played his first non-garbage time minutes in over two weeks, all mixing in threes as the fourth bled down also provided the plenty of lead insurance. It was even enough for Chaney Johnson, one of Brooklyn’s own two-ways, to get his first career minutes as a pro. He played the game’s final five minutes alongside E.J. Liddell and grabbed four points and a steal.
Final: Brooklyn Nets 126, Memphis Grizzlies 115
Next Up
The Nets beat the Pistons on Saturday, so that automatically means they’re better than them now and should be favored in this game. This one tips off at Tuesday in the Barclays Center at 7:30 p.m. EST.
