Another L on the board. The Brooklyn Nets made a trip to Texas to take on the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night. Brooklyn put up a fight, but Dallas was too much to handle as they handed Brooklyn their fourth consecutive loss. Of the league’s 14 lottery teams, the Nets current streak is the longest.
The opponent tonight is trying to find itself. The New Orleans Pelicans took on the Denver Nuggets last night and lost 122-116. It was their 11th loss in the past 12 games.
Where to follow the game
YES Network on TV. WFAN on radio.
Gotham Sports on streaming. Tip after 8 PM.
Injuries
No Ziaire Williams (illness), Ben Saraf (G League assignment) or Haywood Highsmith (knee surgery recovery.) Chaney Johnson, the Nets latest two-way, is with Brooklyn. His hometown of Alabaster, Alabama, is not that far from NOLA.
Nothing was submitted by the Pelicans as of this writing. Per new NBA rules, they have to do it by 1:00 p.m. local time so this will be updated once they get around to listing it.
The game
Brooklyn won the first meeting in December.
Turnovers will tell the story of this game. Even during Brooklyn’s turnaround, their turnover rate hasn’t decreased in the ways you want it to. The Nets have the second highest turnover rate in the NBA and even if we set the parameters from December 1 to now, the Nets are still second. For the Pelicans, if they can force the Nets into mistakes and get out in transition, they’ll be able to get easy points in the paint and play at the pace James Borrego is looking for.
We get to see a bunch of players that should have dates to the Rising Stars mini tourney during All Star Weekend next month. For the Nets, Egor Dёmin is back after getting a rest day on the second night of a back-to-back. He’s second on the team in 3-point percentage at 39.1 percent — behind only MPJ’s 40.4% – and you see the confidence in his shot growing by the day. Dёmin doesn’t get to the rim as much as the other rookie guard in this matchup. Jeremiah Fears is second among rookies in drives to the rim per game at 11 and second on shots attempted inside the restricted area. He’s super young so the success at the rim isn’t quite there yet, but that’s the beauty of getting playing time and working through struggles. The biggest struggle has come on the defensive end as the Pelicans are a trainwreck with him out there. Gotta live with the growing pains on both sides of the ball.
Someone who’s taken the league by storm is the third lottery pick appearing in this contest. Derik Queen has been sensational for the Pels and has drawn praise from all corners of the basketball community
If Queen continues on the trajectory he’s on, things will look up in New Orleans. One area where Queen needs some work is his 3-point shooting. He’s hit only 17.9% of his attempts from beyond the arc thus far this season
Today is the last day of All Star voting, and maybe Michael Porter Jr can boost his odds with another big performance. MPJ is top ten in the East in fan voting and has a good chance of making the team as a reserve. It would be a tremendous accomplishment for him and a great reward for his success in taking on a new role on a new team.
Which microwave scoring guard will have the bigger impact tonight? For the Pelicans, Jordan Poole has settled in to his role coming off the bench and has made ten three pointers in the past two games. Poole missed the early part of the season as he recovered from a quad strain. For the Nets, Cam Thomas continues to build himself up from a hamstring strain that knocked him out of action for a month and change. It’s been a bit of a rocky road as the team expects more from Thomas and Thomas hopes to put good tape out there for his summer plans.
Congrats to the Capper!
Tonight is the 2,000 straight game behind the mic for Nets radio (and sometimes TV) guy Tim Capstraw. Capper just completed a two-game gig on YES with Ryan Ruocco and his performance got raves. Chris Carrino Jr. filled in him on the FAN.
As his Wikipedia page notes, he can handle a whole lot of assignments…
Capstraw’s broadcasting career began with a three-year stint as a television and radio analyst for the Northeast Conference. During the 2001–02 season he was a television analyst for the Atlantic 10 Conference. He joined the Nets Radio broadcasts in the 2002-03 NBA season. He has also filled in on YES Network’s Nets telecasts.
In addition to his work on Nets broadcasts, Capstraw serves as NBA TV’s lead analyst for their Euroleague broadcasts and several other international championships, including the 2004 FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament, the 2003 EuroBasket tournament, and the 2003 FIBA Asia Championship. In 2006, he worked on NBA TV’s coverage of the Las Vegas Summer League. He was a color commentator for NBC’s basketball coverage at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Congratulations, Capper, and many, many more!
Player to watch: Zion Williamson
So it’s been seven years, and I think we can officially say Zion Williamson has been a massive disappointment in New Orleans. Williamson hasn’t been healthy, hasn’t been good enough on the court and has consistently made news for all the wrong reasons off of it. Williamson walked in to New Orleans with a ton of fanfare and excitement, and he will likely walk out of New Orleans in a cloud of shame and embarrassment. Ah well.
His numbers look decent as least. He’s shooting 72 percent inside of three feet, which is an improvement from last year and he’s on track to surpass his games played from last year within the next few weeks. Assuming he plays tonight, he’ll look to For teams that might be in the market for his services, maybe that’s enough to make it worth it. I doubt that, but stranger things have happened.
In the meantime, Noah Clowney will look to help keep the Nets humming along. We’ll see if he can get more drives and shots at the rim tonight compared to recent games. Noah is 8-35 from three in his last four games, but he’s continuing to fire them and making the defense pay attention to him out there. Watching him strike the balance in shot attempts will be something to keep an eye on as we zip along to the All Star break.
From the Vault
Ones in the air for Claudette Colvin
And keep your ones in the air for John Forte
More reading: In the N.O., Pelicans Debrief, SB Nation NBA, New York Post, New York Daily News, Clutch Points, Nets Wire, Steve’s Newsletter, City of Nets
- Brooklyn Nets Game Notes – Brooklyn Nets
- New Orleans Pelicans Game Notes – New Orleans Pelicans
- Brooklyn takes on New Orleans, looks to halt 4-game skid – AP
- What the Nets’ Nolan Traore is learning about the toughest transition in the NBA ($) – Brian Lewis – New York Post
- Nets Rookie Learning To Harness Superpower ($) – Steve Lichtenstein – Steve’s Newsletter
- Drake Powell Versus Nets’ Math Department ($) – Steve Lichtenstein – Steve’s Newsletter
