Brooklyn Nets: Over The River And Through The Bowery To MSG We Go

From the desks: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH & KICKING CANS DOWN 33RD STREET WITH JIMMY

EAST RIVER SHOWDOWN

TONIGHT

BROOKLYN NETS

vs.

NEW YORK KNICKS

FROM

Jimmy's Father's House

Not the kind of start most anticipated ...

There's a video circulating of Kyrie not wearing a face mask while at a party.  In light of the NBA's COVID protocol, the league is investigating whether or not the video is recent, and if in fact, more than fifteen people were in attendance.  If so, Irving can expect to face disciplinary action.  

Kyrie remains out of action during what the team classifies as a personal matter.  I'm glad Sean Marks' finally took the matter out of Coach Nash's hands and put it into his own by issuing an official statement before Tuesday's game.  It was unfair that Nash had to continually field the litany of media questions - understandable, the media has a job to do, but ultimately unfair.

Irving last played on Jan. 5, against the Jazz.  To date, Irving has missed the last four games against Philadelphia, Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Denver.  Flatbush split the games with two wins and two losses.  Likewise, he is expected to be out Wednesday against the Knicks and again Saturday against Orlando back at Barclays Center.  

The NBA has implemented a 72-game schedule this season.  Brooklyn has so far played twelve games. Irving has participated in seven, with one missed game due to scheduled workload maintenance.  Otherwise, through his ongoing absence, Kyrie has now missed 45% of Brooklyn's games this season for reasons other than injury.  Since signing with Brooklyn, he has played in just 27 of a possible 84 regular-season games (although 52 games stem from last season's injury and subsequent surgery).  Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving this season have played just six games together in which the Nets own a 3-3 record.

Durant, against the Nuggets, scored a game-high 34 points, distributes a game-high 13 assists, and secures a game-high nine rebounds in leading the Nets to a six-point victory at Barclays Center.  Durant's three-pointer with 27.9 seconds left in regulation essentially seals the deal.  Caris LeVert adds twenty points in a bench-high 26 minutes.  Getting the start, Bruce Brown goes 8/11 from the field for 16 points with three assists and six rebounds in an effective 26 minutes.  The victory snaps a two-game skid.  Flatbush enters Wednesday's action with a 6-6 record.

🏀

Mounting minutes and dwindling points best describe the Knicks' present condition.  

After averaging 104.3 points en route to a 5-3 record through their first eight games, they've lost their last three in a row while averaging just 89 points.  Coach Thibodeau's Knicks nevertheless enter Wednesday's action with a hard-earned 5-6 record.

Twenty-year-old sophomore RJ Barrett currently leads the NBA playing an average of 37.9 minutes per game.  Barrett averaged 30.4 minutes last season as a rookie.  Julius Randle is tied (with Russell Westbrook) for fifth-highest with 37.1 minutes per game, giving the Knicks two players in the top ten.  Indiana is the only other team with two players in the top ten.  Barrett and Randle have played in all eleven Knicks games.

Against the Hornets on Monday, the second night of a back-to-back, Randle scored a season-low eleven points on 2/9 from the floor and 7/8 from the line while playing a season-low thirty minutes.  It was the Knicks' third game in four days.  Otherwise, Randle is averaging a double-double this season with 22.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.  Last season (64 games), Randle averaged 19.5 points and 9.7 rebounds in 32.5 minutes. 

Despite Monday's 109-88 loss against Charlotte, the Knicks are the second stingiest team in the NBA, yielding 105.5 points per game.  They're also the second most offensively challenged team in the league averaging just 100.1 points per game.