In their first taste of NBA action since March, the Brooklyn Nets fall to the New Orleans Pelicans 99-68 down in the Orlando NBA bubble.
Frankly, as the third scrimmage to take place in the NBA restart, this game wasn’t too entertaining because it wasn’t even close. The one quarter the Nets did win was the third quarter, which was sparked by a run, and even then they only scored 19 points to the Pelicans’ 15.
The Pelicans on the other hand put up an impressive performance all game. They had five players score in double digits, led by Nickeil Alexander and E’Twaun Moore, both scoring 14 points.
As a team they shot 46.8% FG and 40.6 % 3FG. They also grabbed 39 rebounds and dished out 24 assists.
The Nets grabbed 34 rebounds and only dished out 14 assists. Before the season suspension the Nets were second in the league in rebounding averaging 48.5 RPG. They also were averaging 24.0 APG.
If you couldn’t tell by the total of 68 points, Brooklyn struggled mightily on the offensive end. They shot 35.2% FG and 25.0% 3FG. The leading scorer was Dzanan Musa, with 11 points, five rebounds and one assist.
Of the seven other players who got minutes only three scored in double digits, equally putting up 10 points. Jarrett Allen notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Rodions Kurucs scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. Lastly and most notably Caris LeVert only scored 10 points on 5-18 shooting. He’s going to be this team’s leader for however long they’re down in Orlando, so hopefully this was a one-off type of performance.
Granted today was the first day that teams went back to playing each other so there will be rust to shake off for sure. Hopefully for the Nets that’s all it was.
