The Brooklyn Nets have defied conventional wisdom in the early part of this season. Before the season began, FanDuel, one of the sports betting industry’s leading companies, projected the Nets to have just 19 wins, the lowest of any of the NBA’s 30 teams. But after shocking back-to-back road wins over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday and the Golden State Warriors on Monday, the Nets were 8-10 and smashing the low predictions many have of them. Arguably the best and most unexpected of the Nets’ wins came against the Warriors, as they had a balanced attack that saw all nine players that received minutes make at least one three- pointer in overcoming an 18-point, second-half deficit. Overall, the Nets were an impressive 20-45 on threes in the 128-120 victory at the Chase Center in San Francisco as they took down a team that came into the game 12-4 tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best record in the Western Conference.
Veteran point guard Dennis Schroder continued his stellar start to the season, leading the team with 31 points and seven assists. The Nets’ comeback was achieved with its two leading scorers on the bench for most of the second half. Guard Cam Thomas, who topped the Nets at 24.8 points per game prior to taking on the Phoenix Suns last night had 23 points despite only playing 23 minutes after being subbed out by head coach Jordi Fernandez in the third quarter.
Forward Cam Johnson, who was at 19.1 points per game before facing the Suns, sprained his right ankle in the second quarter and only logged 14 minutes. Brooklyn was already without center Nic Claxton, who is dealing with lower back soreness, point-forward Ben Simmons, who does not play back-to-back games, forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who was sidelined with a left ankle sprain, and forward Noah Clowney, who left Sunday’s game with a left ankle sprain.
No Nets player has appeared in every game this season, making the job that Fernandez is doing as impressive as any coach in the league thus far. Johnson has been playing his best basketball as a Net since coming to the team from the Suns in the Kevin Durant trade last February. A week ago, Johnson dropped 34 points against the Charlotte Hornets followed by making nine three-pointers versus the Philadelphia 76ers in a 37-point outing. It was the first back-to-back 30-point games of his career.
Brooklyn will host the Orlando Magic in consecutive games at the Barclays Center on Friday and Sunday before going to Chicago to play the Bulls on Monday. The Nets return home to face the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
