Brooklyn Nets: Sean Marks' Vision Comes Into Focus

From the desk: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

MAKE THAT BROOKLYN'S NINTH & MOST 

ANTICIPATED OPENING DAY SINCE 2012-2013

2020 ~ 2021

HOOPS of FLATBUSH

Warriors    99

Nets         125

FINAL

OUT OF THE LAB AND FINALLY ON THE COURT: A NEW ERA IN BROOKLYN NETS BASKETBALL BEGINS, NOW!

Opening night at Barclays Center features Stephen Curry and the visiting Golden State Warriors (playing without Klay Thompson and Draymond Green) against host Brooklyn featuring their former teammate, Kevin Durant.

Punching in his time card for the first time since Game 5 of the NBA Finals as a member of the Warriors,  Durant is 7/16 from the floor and 7/7 from the line for 22 points in 25-minutes.  Kyrie Irving, the other half of Brooklyn's one-two punch, scores a game-high 26 points in 25-minutes.  

Kyrie Irvin and Kevin Durant joined in scoring 48 points or 38.4% of Brooklyn's 125 total points and propelled the Nets to a 40-25 lead in the first quarter and an 18 point lead at the half.

Coach Nash's distribution of minutes is consistent with the pre-season.  In fact, his starting lineup also remained the same.  DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Joe Harris round out the starting five.  Of the starters, only Jordan failed to stay on the floor for at least twenty minutes.  Caris LeVert, like Durant and Irving, plays a team-high 25-minutes.  A qualified starter at this stage of his career for most other teams, and an emerging star for that matter, Caris is 6/17 from the field and 5/6 from the line with nine rebounds and a team-high five assists.  His 20 points off the bench make three Nets with 20 or more.  New addition Landry Shamet also played 20 minutes, with a +12 and six points.

DeAndre Jordan, in 17 minutes, secures a game-high eleven rebounds.  Jarrett Allen is given 20 minutes off the bench in which he secures seven rebounds and is 2/3 from the floor and 4/5 from the line for eight points.  Together, the "Centers of Brooklyn's Attention" join for 12 points, 18 rebounds (five offensive), with three assists and three blocks.  

As a new leader of the Nets, the television camera in the first quarter caught KD (admonishing?) encouraging Joe Harris to take a shot from the left corner, who instead elected to pass off.  That may not seem like much and will likely go unspoken.  However, I think playing alongside KD will be huge and beneficial to Joe's continued career advancement.  Sean Marks made re-signing Joe an off-season priority.  And truth be told, for the role he plays, he has always been a good fit in Flatbush.  When Harris is on his game and making his shots, the Nets are difficult to contend with.  But when opponents decide to eliminate Joe Harris from the equation, Harris is easily canceled out, and the team oft struggled to make up the difference.  After only one regular-season game together, I sense Kevin Durant will push Harris unlike any player or coach before him.  Harris is averaging 11.8 points per game since joining the Nets but is averaging 14.1 ppg over the last two seasons.  With teams overly concerned with Durant and Irving, Harris stands to have his best season to date.  Monday against the Warriors, he scored ten and secured seven rebounds.

The Nets outrebounded Golden State (55-45) by a margin of ten.  Assists were 26-24 in favor of the Warriors.  Brooklyn was 42/92 (45.7%) from the floor and an efficient 15/35 (42.9%) from the arc.  Golden State was 37/99 (37.4%) from the field; Steph Curry finished with 20 points in 30 minutes.

Flatbush faces an upgrade in competition when they next play the Celtics at Boston on Christmas Day.