After a big win at home against one Florida team, the Nets will fly to the Sunshine State to battle the other.
Making waves. On Tuesday night, the Brooklyn Nets hosted their first Tournament home game. They made the night extra special as they dominated the Orlando Magic in route to a smooth victory. The Nets have won back-to-back games and are now 2-1 in group play.
The opponent tonight is looking to keep the good energy going. They beat the Charlotte Hornets in the Tournament game on Tuesday night to improve their group play record to 2-0. In the process pushed their current winning streak to six games.
Injuries
No Cam Thomas (ankle.) Ben Simmons (back) is out and will be reevaluated in a week but Brian Lewis reported Wednesday the big question about Simmons health is not when he’ll be back — which could be a couple of weeks — but will the back injury keep recurring.
Tyler Herro is out with a right ankle sprain. RJ Hampton is out with a right knee sprain. Kevin Love’s dealing with a left shoulder contusion, but he’ll be available. Same for: Josh Richardson (back spasms), Caleb Martin (left knee tendinosis), and Dru Smith (right shoulder AC joint sprain).
The game
Brooklyn won the first matchup.
The matchup on the wing should be super fun. On one side, Mikal Bridges is looking to put another great game together. Mikal had a good all around game with 21/5/4/4 in 32 minutes. The turnovers were a bit high (six), but it’s something you might just have to live with. When Bridges is moving and cutting off the ball, great things happen for the Nets and it makes Mikal a much more dynamic player to defend:
Waiting for Bridges will be Jimmy Butler. The great thing about Butler is even when he’s not having his best game or is being deferential to his teammates, all it takes is one basket in the fourth quarter for him to start turning up. When the time is right, Butler can get to anywhere he wants on the court and score over any type of defense in front of him.
A pleasant surprise for Miami has been the play of Jaime Jaquez Jr. The rookie has been a godsend for Erik Spoelstra’s club and has done a nice job filling in for the injured Herro in the starting five. The great thing about the Heat is they always find solid contributors and can plug them into the lineup with little drop off. It speaks to an organizational commitment to excellence and buy in from all aspects of the organization. Call it whatever you want, but it works.
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