After dropping consecutive highway video games to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday and Saturday, the Nets welcomed Anthony Davis and the Dallas Mavericks to Brooklyn on Monday within the first of three straight video games at Barclays Middle.
Coming into the evening, Davis had appeared in only one sport for Dallas because the blockbuster commerce that despatched Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. The ten-time All-Star and NBA champion had been sidelined with an adductor pressure suffered in opposition to Houston Rockets on Feb. 8
Davis completed with 26 factors, 16 rebounds and 7 assists in his Mavericks debut, however his afternoon ended early within the third quarter. The Nets’ problem was making an attempt to mitigate his manufacturing in his first sport again.
The 32-year-old was restricted to only 28 minutes in opposition to Brooklyn.
“Obviously, with the return of a very special player, it’s good for us, good to figure out how to have different coverages executed and give ourselves a chance,” head coach Jordi Fernandez stated. “We want to keep growing. We want to compete. We’ll go out there and fight against anybody and that’s the most important thing from where we’re coming.”
Monday was Brooklyn’s first assembly with Dallas this season. The groups will face off for the final time in 2024-25 subsequent Monday at American Airways Middle.
TOUGH BREAKS
An argument may be made that the Nets are within the midst of essentially the most moral tank in latest reminiscence. Fernandez has them enjoying exhausting nearly each evening. They haven’t sat a number of key gamers for egregious stretches. They went 2-8 over their final 10 video games coming into Monday — with every loss coming by single digits.
“It comes down to a lot of different things, from getting one more stop to not fouling a 3-point shooter the other day, to getting one less turnover, to executing one more play, to having a good time in a two-for-one,” Fernandez stated. “There’s so many things you can do and when we lost the game in overtime the other day, it came down to one possession, right? Because the game went to overtime, and we had controlled the whole game.”
Nevertheless, the best way wherein Brooklyn continues to lose video games stays irritating from a training standpoint. Draft lottery objectives apart, Fernandez, for one, desires to see his younger group enhance at ending shut video games down the stretch.
“We always think about the last possession, a lot of times. I think winning teams, they take care of those possessions throughout games, and we’re going to build towards that — towards having the mentality that I don’t have a part, the pressure, to go out there and have to figure it out when the game is tied,” Fernandez stated. “Now, if it is, we’ll go ahead and do it, but if not, we’ll be more cautious of playing throughout 48 minutes.”
LEADING THROUGH EXPERIENCE
The common age of the Nets’ 18-man roster is 24 years previous. Cam Johnson and D’Angelo Russell, each 29, are the veterans of the group by age and NBA expertise. Johnson is the one man on the group who has appeared within the NBA Finals.
Johnson’s expertise has trusted him right into a management function this season in Brooklyn, whether or not he likes it or not. He’s continued to develop in his new function, and Fernandez has taken discover.
“I think, at the beginning, he did everything we asked him,” Fernandez stated of Johnson. “And right now, he can talk at times when he’s comfortable. He’ll go and, you know, he’ll address the group, which is a good thing. And like you said, he’s our oldest guy, and he’s still in his 20s, late 20s. And that’s good. It tells you how young our group is, and a lot of these guys, they’re going to keep developing, keep working.”
