Brooklyn Nets: Welcome to Mr. Irving's Neighborhood

From the desk of: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

OPENING NIGHT

Timberwolves  127

NETS                 126

OVERTIME

On behalf of the Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving is bestowed the honor of greeting the opening night  Barclays Center crowd.  He gets choked up in a rush of emotion midway through his address, and fans respond accordingly.

At 2:24 of the opening session Irving scores his first points as a member of the Nets.  He continues on to post 12-points in the first quarter, and scores a floor leading 25-points by halftime.  By the end of regulation Kyrie leads all scorers with 43-points, and is tied with a game high seven assists.  After five minutes of overtime Kyrie finishes the night with a game high fifty-points, becoming only the seventh player in Nets history to achieve the milestone.

Brooklyn's first half defense proves ruinous, and Kenny Atkinson did not look happy about it.  At 8:18 of the second quarter Shabazz Napier converts two from the charity line staking the Wolves to an 18-point lead.  Spencer Dinwiddie's second quarter buzzer beater from half court reduces Brooklyn's deficit to twelve.  The Nets then open the third quarter on a 15-2 run.  A Joe Harris three at 8:19 gives the Nets a 71-70 lead.  The Wolves answer tying the game 80-80 with 4:30 left, but are otherwise outscored in the third quarter by a 37-20 margin.  The fourth quarter proves more harrowing for the Nets.  After a fine defensive stand at the other end, Irving drops a three from the left elbow extended giving the Nets a fleeting 115-112 lead with 1:16 left.  Soon after with six seconds on the clock, Kyrie feeds Jarrett Allen who is fouled while driving to the basket.  But Jarrett misses both free throw attempts.

And into overtime they go ...

Trailing by three, Kyrie Irvin drains a pair of free throws with 36.8 seconds left.  Coming out of a timeout with 14-seconds left, Kyrie again possesses the ball.  After burning seconds off the clock he breaks left, slips, and falls, but recovers and actually gets off a clear 18-footer which fails to finds its mark.  All his team mates rush to console him at mid-court.


TAKEAWAYS

#1  The Nets have no answer for Karl-Anthony Towns. 

#2  Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie are still erratic as ever.  Just as D'Angelo Russell was.  All three last season demonstrate their ability to effectively drive and get to the rim.  But once their they often lose their freaking minds.  Said another way, they are not the polished finishers Kyrie Irving is, and the star of the night made that abundantly clear.  Don't get me wrong: I believe Caris is developing into an extraordinary player.  But if game one is any indication, he is still quite erratic at the rim.  Otherwise LeVert compliments Irving with 20-points and four assists.

#3  I'm curious how Kenny Atkinson will go about distributing minutes between Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordon.  Allen played 35-minutes against the Wolves, while Jordan played 17-minutes.  The two joined for eight points and twelve boards.  Allan blocks a game high five shots.

#4  15/26 (57.7%) from the free throw line; c'mon.