Home court doesn’t turn out to be an advantage for the Nets
From January 23 through this past Tuesday, the Brooklyn Nets played 10 of their 11 games at Barclays Center. Yet they failed to capitalize on their home court and finished 4-7 overall and 3-7 in their own building.
A week ago, Brooklyn was dominated by the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, 118-95, who were led by five-time NBA All-Star Donovan Mitchell’s 27 points in 30 minutes. Mikal Bridges topped the Nets with 26 points in that game. Saturday night, Cam Thomas had a team high 25 points in a 123-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs. When the league’s schedule tipped off last night, Brooklyn was 21-32 and the No. 11 seed in the Eastern Conference, two and a half games behind the Atlanta Hawks, the 10th seed.
Despite their record, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said he sees progress. “It’s been great to play games at home,” said Vaughn. “You always want to play in front of your home crowd and I think we’ve used the opportunity to get better as a team. Whether that is some things we’ve done defensively, some things we’ve figured out on the offensive end step by step, getting healthy bodies back into the fold.”
Hours before last Thursday’s trade deadline, Brooklyn acquired guard Dennis Schröder and forward Thaddeus Young from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for guard Spencer Dinwiddie. The Nets then waived Young and center Harry Giles III.
Schröder paid immediate dividends for the team, scoring 15 points and handing out 12 assists in his Nets debut last Saturday, a Nets win at home. He became the fourth player in Nets history to record a points/assists double-double in his franchise debut, joining James Harden, Deron Williams and Kelvin Ramsey. Schröder also became the first player since NBA Hall of Famer and former NBA MVP Allen Iverson to post 15 or more points and 10 or more assists coming off the bench in a team debut.
Veteran Schröder is an NBA champion, who is an upgrade at point guard as Dinwiddie, who was previously the Nets’ starter at the point, is more of a combo guard.
The 30-year-old led his native Germany to the country’s first-ever gold medal at the FIBA World Cup this past summer, earning FIBA World Cup MVP honors.
Nets and New York Liberty co-owner Clara Wu Tsai was presented with the Dreamer Award Tuesday night at Barclays Center by Martin Luther King III. and his wife Arndrea Waters King. The Dreamer Award, in honor of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is presented annually to individuals whose contributions create a more just and equitable world and embody Dr. King’s vision of service to others. King III. is MLK’s eldest son.
The trio issued a call to action, encouraging participation in local service opportunities as part of the King Family’s Realizing the Dream initiative, a global movement to accomplish 100 million hours of service by 2029 in celebration of the 100th birthday of the late of the civil rights icon. Visit netsunite.com/legacy to learn more about the initiative.
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