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After a couple of days off to reflect on a frustrating home loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Cavs stay home to take on the NBA’s hottest team, the Brooklyn Nets. This has been a tale of two teams; the team that started the season 9-11 and the team that is 12-1 since then, with the only loss coming to the first place Boston Celtics.
The Nets are in 4th place, one-half game behind the Cavs, so they will pass the Cavs in the standings with a win. The Nets are 9-7 on the road. They last played on Friday when they beat the Bucks 118-100. All of their starters were between +13 and +26 in that game. The Nets have everybody healthy right now except Joe Harris. This will be the first game of the season between these teams.
The Nets are averaging 114.1 ppg, which puts them 15th, but in the last eight games they are averaging 124.5 points. They are an excellent shooting team, ranking 2nd in 2-point percentage, 3rd in 3-point percentage, and 1st in effective field goal percentage.
The Nets are mostly an outside shooting team, as they take the third fewest shots at the rim and rank 23rd in points in the paint. They are 4th in mid-range frequency and 1st in mid-range accuracy. They are definitely not a team that tries to make every shot a layup or a 3.
They have a couple of offensive weaknesses; with all those jump shots they don’t draw many fouls (25th in free throws per possession) and they don’t bother with offensive rebounding (29th). Make them miss the first shot and you’re in good shape. They also commit more turnovers than average.
Defensively the Nets are 9th in scoring defense, 9th in points allowed in the paint, 7th in effective field goal percentage, and 1st in block percentage. They are 1st in opponents 2-point percentage but only 27th in 3-point percentage, so it seems the way to attack Brooklyn is shooting a lot of 3’s. They have a problem on the defensive glass ranking 25th in defensive rebound percentage, so statistically the way to go is shoot from deep and hit the glass for second chances and putbacks.
They also foul a lot going for those blocks, ranking 28th in opponents’ free throws per possession.
Over the last two weeks the Nets are 5-0 with a differential of 15.7 points, second only to Memphis. But that’s partly due to a 30-point win over Golden State without Curry, Thompson, and Wiggins. They’ve won some close games; by 3 over Detroit, by 3 over Toronto, by 3 over Indiana (all on the road), and by 4 over Atlanta. With a couple exceptions it’s not like they’ve been destroying teams. They’ve been playing just well enough to win.
The Nets are heavily dependent for offense on Kevin Durant (30/7/5) and Kyrie Irving (26/5/5). Between the two of them they score almost half of the Nets’ points. Durant is averaging 63% on 2-point shots and 36% on 3’s. Irving is shooting 58% on 2’s and 34% on 3’s.
The next highest scorer is C Nic Claxton at 11.8 points on 74.5%. Nobody else scores in double figures. Ben Simmons, their 6’10”, 240 pound point guard, has a line of 8/7/6 on 62% from the field.
Durant and Irving are each averaging over 36 minutes per game at age 34 and 30, respectively. I wonder if both of them can hold up for 82 games plus the playoffs having to play that many minutes and carry the offensive load.
With two days to stew about a loss to the Raptors where the Cavs were outplayed by a more physical opponent, I expect the Cavs to come out aggressively. JBB said the Cavs “played no defense at all” against Toronto, and in fact the Raptors, who are the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA, hit 51% from deep.
Individually, the Kyrie/Garland matchup should be very interesting, unless the Cavs put Mitchell on him. Also Durant against Mobley or Allen or both. The Raptors got Mobley in early foul trouble and basically took him out of the game (7 points). I wouldn’t be surprised if Durant goes at him early to try and get him early fouls.
The other three starters (O’Neale, Simmons, Claxton) don’t really try to create their own shots but depend on Kyrie and Durant to set them up with open shots.
This should be a hard fought game with a white hot team that is on a roll offensively going against the Association’s number one defense. When the Cavs have the ball they should look to create uncontested 3’s and either make them or get offensive rebounds and second chance points. The Nets are near the bottom of the league at 3-point defense and defensive rebounding, but they block shots and defend the paint well.
When the Nets have the ball Allen and Mobley need to force Durant to pop contested 3’s as he’s a 36% shooter from deep while Garland and Mitchell take turns making Kyrie work hard for his points. The Nets rank 20th in turnovers so forcing some turnovers and getting fast break points will also help.
The game is on NBA TV.
The Nets are in 4th place, one-half game behind the Cavs, so they will pass the Cavs in the standings with a win. The Nets are 9-7 on the road. They last played on Friday when they beat the Bucks 118-100. All of their starters were between +13 and +26 in that game. The Nets have everybody healthy right now except Joe Harris. This will be the first game of the season between these teams.
The Nets are averaging 114.1 ppg, which puts them 15th, but in the last eight games they are averaging 124.5 points. They are an excellent shooting team, ranking 2nd in 2-point percentage, 3rd in 3-point percentage, and 1st in effective field goal percentage.
The Nets are mostly an outside shooting team, as they take the third fewest shots at the rim and rank 23rd in points in the paint. They are 4th in mid-range frequency and 1st in mid-range accuracy. They are definitely not a team that tries to make every shot a layup or a 3.
They have a couple of offensive weaknesses; with all those jump shots they don’t draw many fouls (25th in free throws per possession) and they don’t bother with offensive rebounding (29th). Make them miss the first shot and you’re in good shape. They also commit more turnovers than average.
Defensively the Nets are 9th in scoring defense, 9th in points allowed in the paint, 7th in effective field goal percentage, and 1st in block percentage. They are 1st in opponents 2-point percentage but only 27th in 3-point percentage, so it seems the way to attack Brooklyn is shooting a lot of 3’s. They have a problem on the defensive glass ranking 25th in defensive rebound percentage, so statistically the way to go is shoot from deep and hit the glass for second chances and putbacks.
They also foul a lot going for those blocks, ranking 28th in opponents’ free throws per possession.
Over the last two weeks the Nets are 5-0 with a differential of 15.7 points, second only to Memphis. But that’s partly due to a 30-point win over Golden State without Curry, Thompson, and Wiggins. They’ve won some close games; by 3 over Detroit, by 3 over Toronto, by 3 over Indiana (all on the road), and by 4 over Atlanta. With a couple exceptions it’s not like they’ve been destroying teams. They’ve been playing just well enough to win.
The Nets are heavily dependent for offense on Kevin Durant (30/7/5) and Kyrie Irving (26/5/5). Between the two of them they score almost half of the Nets’ points. Durant is averaging 63% on 2-point shots and 36% on 3’s. Irving is shooting 58% on 2’s and 34% on 3’s.
The next highest scorer is C Nic Claxton at 11.8 points on 74.5%. Nobody else scores in double figures. Ben Simmons, their 6’10”, 240 pound point guard, has a line of 8/7/6 on 62% from the field.
Durant and Irving are each averaging over 36 minutes per game at age 34 and 30, respectively. I wonder if both of them can hold up for 82 games plus the playoffs having to play that many minutes and carry the offensive load.
With two days to stew about a loss to the Raptors where the Cavs were outplayed by a more physical opponent, I expect the Cavs to come out aggressively. JBB said the Cavs “played no defense at all” against Toronto, and in fact the Raptors, who are the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA, hit 51% from deep.
Individually, the Kyrie/Garland matchup should be very interesting, unless the Cavs put Mitchell on him. Also Durant against Mobley or Allen or both. The Raptors got Mobley in early foul trouble and basically took him out of the game (7 points). I wouldn’t be surprised if Durant goes at him early to try and get him early fouls.
The other three starters (O’Neale, Simmons, Claxton) don’t really try to create their own shots but depend on Kyrie and Durant to set them up with open shots.
This should be a hard fought game with a white hot team that is on a roll offensively going against the Association’s number one defense. When the Cavs have the ball they should look to create uncontested 3’s and either make them or get offensive rebounds and second chance points. The Nets are near the bottom of the league at 3-point defense and defensive rebounding, but they block shots and defend the paint well.
When the Nets have the ball Allen and Mobley need to force Durant to pop contested 3’s as he’s a 36% shooter from deep while Garland and Mitchell take turns making Kyrie work hard for his points. The Nets rank 20th in turnovers so forcing some turnovers and getting fast break points will also help.
The game is on NBA TV.
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