Brooklyn Nets: Unlikely Dynamic Duo To The Rescue

From the desk: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

FRIDAY

Hornets    115

Nets         130

FINAL

Joe Harris and Landry Shamet Join Forces Against Hornets

And herein lies one of my issues: Joe Harris plays a leading role against a good Hornets team with both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the floor.  As is presently the case with James Harden being out, the Nets need Friday's type of performance when any of the aforementioned big three are not on the court.  That being said, Joe Harris tied for the team lead in attempts and finished with a team-high 26 points in 29 minutes.  He was 8/12 from the field, including a decisive 6/9 from behind the arc.  

After proactively sitting out Wednesday to maintain a barking hamstring, Kevin Durant returned to score 25 points in an extended 30 minutes.  He also played the role of facilitator with a game-high eleven assists.  Kyrie Irving had seven assists but struggled to score twelve points in a team-high 33 minutes.

With the sudden retirement of LaMarcus Aldridge, the onus in the middle is reset upon DeAndre Jordan and young Nicolas Claxton.  Game-wise, a minus-14 by Jordan and a plus-14 by Claxton cancel each other out; individually speaking is another topic.  Jordan finished with eight points and five rebounds.  His 17 minutes were the fewest of Steve Nash's five starters.  Meanwhile, Nicolas Claxton was scoreless, attempting just one shot from the field, but secured nine rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.

Landry Shamet played a big role in Friday's win, shooting 7/14 from the field, including 6/11 from behind the arc for 20 points and a team-high plus-25 in 21 minutes also off the bench.  Led by Shamet and Joe Harris, who joined for 12/20 from long range, the Nets posted plus-27 points from behind the arc.  

Flatbush was also plus-nine in assists, but their plus-eleven in fastbreak points were canceled out by Charlotte's plus-seven in points off turnovers.

Brooklyn could not gain ground on first-place Philadelphia who narrowly defeated the Clippers to retain their one-game conference advantage over the Nets with 16 games left in the regular season.