In just two games Brooklyn made the necessary adjustments to give themselves a better chance to win. They came out on top of San Antonio 124-119 on Saturday. It’s almost as if they heard all the naysayers saying the 7th seed’s trip to Orlando this summer is going to be pointless.
The Nets’ performance against the San Antonio Spurs this over the weekend was night and day compared to their first scrimmage against the Pelicans, when they got blown out 99-68, their lowest point total of this whole season.
This time around Brooklyn had six players score in double digits, led by Caris LeVert dropping 27 points on 47.1% FG. He played like the leader he’s going to need to be down in the Orlando bubble if the team wants to make a deep playoff run, despite their depleted roster.
LeVert was helped by Jarrett Allen, who notched another double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Rodions Kurucs and Tyler Johnson also added 17 points apiece, who are versatile scorers and will need to be more aggressive on a consistent basis.
It’s notable that against the Spurs, Nets HC Jacque Vaughn pretty much emptied the roster, using every player except for Jamal Crawford and Donta Hall. Against the Pelicans, Vaughn didn’t play five players.
That higher roster usage paid off because the ball was moving beautifully. The Nets dished out 27 assists (3+ than their season average), which is nearly double the amount they had in their first scrimmage (14).
Another stat where they nearly doubled was their points, scoring 124 compared to 68 the first game back.
Now needless to say it would be unrealistic to expect the Nets to double their stats in every game going forward, but it definitely looks like this squad is getting exponentially better as we get closer to the official NBA restart.
Before that though Brooklyn has one more scrimmage against the Utah Jazz on Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
