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| Nets lose opener to Pelicans, 130-108, as Ben Simmons fouls out with 4 points |
Nets lose opener to Pelicans, 130-108, as Ben Simmons fouls out with 4 points
The Nets swept the New Orleans Pelicans 130-108 in the season opener, despite Kevin Durant's 32 points on just 21 shots.
"I talked about the other day, just testing us and challenging us," Kyrie Irving said after the loss. "And it's going to be a familiar theme throughout the year and it's going to be consistently played competitively, so we don't talk about it all the time. And I don't want to sit in the seat after every game and say, 'We should have done this, we should have done this.' we should have done." As such, it's a grown-up league and the most physical team wins."
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Meanwhile, the Pelicans' big three of C.J. McCollum, Zion Williamson, and Brandon Ingram stole the show, scoring a combined 74 points en route to the sweep.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn got just 17 points combined from Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving. Simmons was particularly disappointing, recording more fouls (6) than points (4) in his Nets debut.
"I was really excited to be honest," Simmons said of the foul in his debut. “But it was great to be there. Of course you want to win the first game. But we know the reasons why we are lost, there are many reasons why we are lost. And we can fix them. We know it's not us as a team. I think there was a lot of nervousness in the beginning, but it was good to get out of the way."
Nets lose opener to Pelicans
Outside of the stars (or stars, really), Brooklyn got some nice things off the bench from Patty Mills, who scored 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 4-of-9 from three. The rest of Brooklyn's bench was not so productive, putting up only 7 points.
Brooklyn was Brooklyn's Achilles heel on Wednesday as the Pelicans beat the Nets 61-39. Many of those second-chance opportunities resulted in three-pointers for New Orleans, which shot 46.2% from deep. Meanwhile, Brooklyn found no consistency at just 30.3% from long range, and the Pelicans used that against them by crowding the paint and suffocating Brooklyn's main creator with multiple defenders.
"We're not the biggest team, we're not going to lead the league in rebounding," Steve Nash said after the game. “But there's still a level of understanding that it's a weakness for us. We talked about it every day. We have to come back, double team on the glass and flood. It's just part of being competitive, being aware and understanding what our weaknesses are and trying to address them from the start."
In typical Nets fashion, the offense got off to a slow start as the Nets missed their first three shots. Ben Simmons snapped a scoring drought with his first clean sheet of the season following a Pelicans turnover. A pair of buckets by Zion Williamson at the rim forced a timeout after an early 11-2 deficit by Steve Nash.
“You see, you know how hard it is physically and how hard it is to keep the rim and stay off the offensive glass. So it looks like he's healthy and playing really well again,” Nash said of Zion after the game.
After three straight turnovers -- one by Kevin Durant dribbling into the crowd, one by Ben Simmons on a failed alley-oop and one by Royce O'Neal on a layup -- New Orleans' lead grew to 16.
Then three straight steals by Royce O'Neale cut the deficit to just 12 and forced a Pellies timeout. Brooklyn got going as the Pelicans extended their lead to 18 again to close out the first quarter.
Brooklyn got back on track in the second quarter, starting with a nice pass from Ben Simmons to Nick Claxton on a short roll and a corner three by Markieff Morris. However, the Pelicans kept it going with two of their shooters, Brandon Ingram and C.J. McCollum, who sprayed short midrange jumpers. Meanwhile, the Nets couldn't find a rhythm as their spacing limited half-court opportunities.
Fortunately, the Nets finished the quarter well as Nick Claxton – the only antidote to the crushing force that was Zion Williamson – used his impressive 7'2” wingspan to pin Zion's layup on the glass, leading to a Kevin Durant three at the other end. . . Behind some crazy shooting from Durant, who had 21 at the half, the Nets were able to cut the deficit to 8 at halftime, 58-50.
Both teams trailed early in the third quarter; Kevin Durant made a jumper and fouled Williamson at the rim and C.J. McCollum drained a 3-pointer while the Nets doubled up Jonas Valanciunas.
Then Zion took over and fell in two unstoppable runs. The Pelicans' lead grew when Trey Murphy III hit a deep three and Brandon Ingram drew a layup plus a foul on Kevin Durant and then another three on an offensive rebound. Suddenly, the Nets were staring at a 25-point deficit with 4 minutes left. The Nets finished the quarter 98-78.
The fourth quarter was more of the same, with the Nets finally hanging the white flag with 4:30 left. And that's all he wrote. Coming off a 22-point loss and an 0-1 start to the season with a tough opponent, the Toronto Raptors head to Brooklyn on Friday.
Nate isn't worried about Simmons' slow start
Although Ben Simmons' debut didn't go well, his teammates and head coach weren't particularly worried about their star jack-of-all-trades.
Steve Nash attributed the 4-point performance to "rust" and cited Simmons' 486-day suspension from regulation basketball.
"I think he's rusty. The guy hasn't played in over a year — he's still getting used to the refs, the defense, the offense. It's a process," Nash explained. “You've heard me say it, but he's clearly shown flashes of the player we know he can and can be, but it's not easy. We're here to support him, we're here to push him, train him and try to get him to where he can play at the level he's played at in the past. It has everything going for it.
“I mean, I think you see those flashes over the course of the season, but when we put it together now, you take a good look, your rhythm and then assimilate into the new team - he's got a lot on his plate. As long as he continues to build confidence, play hard and play with energy, we're fine with him making mistakes as he grows into it."
Kyrie Irving, meanwhile, was similarly encouraging, but also offered a softer tone. He specifically mentioned that the Nates interviewed Ben in the locker room to set the standard for what was expected of him as a star on the team.
"He's just got to get reps and minutes. I think it's as simple as that," Kyrie Irving said of what Simmons needs. "We told him in the dressing room that he is a valuable asset for us and we need him there. And fouling is out of the question."
Kevin Durant's reaction to Ben Simmons' debut can best be described in one way: not upset.
“Not all of us have great games, that's the nature of our job. It’s all about coming back and you show up to work tomorrow and figure it out,” Durant said bluntly.
Movie room
So obviously Kevin Durant was the star of the show.
But Nick Claxton showed some flashes we haven't seen from him before. For starters, as mentioned above, he's the only player who could reasonably mess with Zion Williamson, who proved too strong for his main defender, Ben Simmons. While Nick Claxton doesn't have the physicality to hang with Zion (does anyone?), he brings plenty of hippin' lengths to snuff out opportunities for the Pelicans star.
Nico's block on Zion late in the first half was the catalyst for the mini-run, and you'll notice how Clax first stole a right-handed layup from Zion before moving to Zion's left side to sit on the spin.
Nic's finishing through contact has also shown great improvement, a reflection of the extra size he put on this summer. Nic previously estimated he had put on 7 to 10 pounds of mass, and that's where it came into play as he cruised through this finish on the rim. Also a gain from Cam Thomas, who is showing some growth as a playmaker after some impressive moments in the preseason!
And then finish with the main course: Clax's efficient ride and communication. We've heard about Claxton's quarterback since his rookie season, and he put that skill on display in the second quarter. He faked a pass to Kevin Durant, drove to the cup as the defense moved toward the Nets star, and then got another great finish through contact to finish the game.
Claxton finished with 13 points on near-perfect shooting (6-of-7), 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal to follow a lucrative summer in which the Nets invested $20 million to become their center. Future.
New video from Kyrie via Shams
Shams Charnia has released another part of his exclusive interview with Kyrie Irving.
Irving was selected by the Nets to greet fans Wednesday before the game. It's another sign that the Nets and Irving are on it despite their failed talks over the summer.
New national date
The Nets (somewhat) surprisingly only got 13 nationally televised games when NBA schedulers revealed their work in early August. Half of what they had last season on ESPN and TNT. At the time, Kevin Durant's trade request was still pending and Kyrie Irving's situation was also uncertain.
On Wednesday, the NBA rectified this situation somewhat. As Brian Lewis reports, the Nets' Nov. 1 home game against Chicago will now air on TNT as it did in November. 15 games in Sacramento. NBATV dropped Brooklyn's Nov. 17 tilt at Portland, but added a Nov. 13 showdown with the Lakers, a Dec. 23 matchup with Milwaukee and a Jan. 22 game at Golden State.
Thanks for reading: Nets lose opener to Pelicans, 130-108, as Ben Simmons fouls out with 4 points, Sorry, my English is bad:)