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They lost in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Toronto Raptors, 4 games to 0. Brooklyn will have six games televised on ESPN and another six will be on TNT. The Nets will also have eight games broadcast on NBA TV. Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on Brooklyn Nets and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more.
In fact, the West accounts for nine of the 10 toughest schedules and each of the top five. The Cleveland Cavaliers, who already have the cards stacked against them, were the one Eastern team in the top 10. All 10 of the easiest schedules belonged to Eastern Conference teams. He still feels like he’s building something in New York, in Brooklyn. And when asked if he felt the Nets needed more on the roster to compete with Boston and Milwaukee, he didn’t flinch.
Player to watch: Jordan Poole
The Nets have rebounded from the ashes of a coaching change and an Irving-fueled controversy to climb to fourth in the East, winning 11 of 12 with a current seven-game streak, the longest in the league. This season, 18 of Brooklyn’s 41 home games will be played on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The Nets will also host five afternoon contests, including a 3 p.m. Game versus Philadelphia on Martin Luther King Jr.
Fortunately for Brooklyn, they got back in formation after halftime and escaped with a three point victory. The W was the team’s sixth in a row and capped off a perfect 4-0 road trip. After playing five of their first seven games at home, the Nets hit the road for four consecutive games before returning to play the Indiana Pacers (11/18), Charlotte Hornets (11/20) and Sacramento Kings (11/22).
Big Test: How Nets Are Approaching A Strenuous Stretch Ahead
Durant has been playing at a historic pace and has been sensational in every aspect of the game. He’s a matchup nightmare for everybody, and if he plays, Jonathan Kuminga will have the unenviable task of guarding the two time Finals MVP. Former No. 6 overall pick Mo Bamba may be the Magic’s greatest trade chip… League executives expect Orlando to hold out for a protected first-round selection or a late first-round pick to part with the 24-year-old rim presence. This is not a deterrent — if the price of landing an All-Star level player is a second-round pick, teams will factor it into the cost of doing business and happily pay it.
Still, every single game could prove important when it comes to playoff seeding. Unfortunately, that’s not how this all works, especially in the Twitter world and the other world in which basketball players are paid more than handsomely because the line goes beyond the floor and into their personal brands. “We understand what we’re doing on both ends. It’s that simple,” Durant said when asked what’s working. “We know what kind of defense we want to play, what kind of offense we want to run. And that just makes everybody more comfortable.
Nets shoot for fifth straight win in Toronto
What’s the takeaway from the month-by-month analysis? Hopefully the Nets can get off to a fairly good start while the schedule is favorable. If they do, expectations should be managed until the team faces the January stretch. Dubin not only looked at the schedule on the whole, but broke down strength of schedule by month. The easiest month of the year is projected to go to the Chicago Bulls in February, while the Thunder have the toughest month to start the season in October/November. The difference between the Bucks and the Thunder/Suns is still rather small, so as noted before, the schedule in itself shouldn’t overly favor or hinder any team.
Golden State will be without Curry and possibly forward Andrew Wiggins, who is on the tail end of a groin injury. The reigning NBA champions are playing the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. "Oh absolutely. The focus gotta tighten up when you play better teams," Warren said. "I mean, you can’t look at someone’s record and just assume it’s gonna be an easy win. Playing for this team, the other team is gonna get up to play against us. It just is what it is. We’ve gotta be prepared for every team’s best shot." The upcoming 16 contests will be played against championship contenders, playoff-caliber teams, and plenty of sleeper teams. The teams that are included in that slate are the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Warriors , and the Philadelphia 76ers.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS
The Warriors have to figure out what they have in James Wiseman. Through a combination of injuries, NCAA ineligibility and poor play, Wiseman has barely played any professional basketball in the past three years. Since turning pro in 2020, Wiseman has only played 1300 minutes combined in the NBA and the G-League.
With Cade Cunningham out until next season and the focus on the future, it’s time for the Pistons to be sellers. Santa needs to bring the Lakers a way to keep their heads above water while Anthony Davis is out for the next month — and maybe longer — with a still not disclosed foot injury. The bright spot recently has been the play of rookie Max Christie, who brings real energy off the bench and is hitting 40% of his 3-pointers this season. Timberwolves (16-15, LW 22).
Based on their point differential and their pythagorean expectation, the Nets could have been expected to have about 34.7 wins, or a record in the regular season. Which everyone knew they did. What the Kings want for Christmas is the same thing they have wanted for 16 years — a trip to the playoffs. But this season it feels within reach — as long as they stop doing things like losing to the Hornets at home. The Kings are home for 10 of their next 12 and this is their chance to solidify their grip on a postseason slot.
They’re still the champs and it will take a great team effort to come away with a win tonight. They aren’t drawing a lot of headlines for potential trades, but this team could get their Christmas gift with some moves toward the future in February . The Pistons bench unit of Saddiq Bey, Alec Burks and Cory Joseph could draw some trade interest around the league, and you can be sure teams are calling about Bojan Bogdanovic.
It’s the season of giving, and our friends at the New York Liberty are doing their part. On Monday, the team launched their Season of Giving campaign as they provided gifts to community organizations across the city. The Warriors are attempting to pull off a neat magic trick. They are simultaneously looking to win now while also building for the future. It’s been working, but there’s one big question about their future.
Since Jarrett Allen returned to the lineup eight games ago the Cavs are 6-2 with a +7 net rating with the fourth-best defense in the NBA over that stretch. The Cavaliers want a fifth starter who can play the three, stretch the floor on offense and play strong defense for Christmas. Of course, 29 other teams are looking for a guy like that and it’s likely more of an off-season pick-up for Cleveland, but if Santa has one of those players in their bag the Cavs will take it. The season was suspended by league officials following the games of March 11 after it was reported that Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. On March 17, the Nets announced that four of its players tested positive for COVID-19, including Kevin Durant. On April 1, general manager Sean Marks announced that all four players recovered and were cleared by local health officials.
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What the Rockets want for Christmas is the NBA Draft Lottery ping-pong balls to love them come this May. They already have a nice young core of players in Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Alperen Sengun and Kevin Porter Jr., but they could use one of those alphas at the top of the draft to lead them all. The Rockets are not all that far away and they know it, even if the learning curve can be a little painful this season. The obvious thing the Clippers need is continued health for their Kawhi Leonard and Paul George — considering the run of health issues around this team maybe Santa can bring the training staff a larger, industrial-sized ice machine. The other thing the Clippers need is continued luck — they have the point differential of a team, but they have racked up 18 wins to keep them in the mix in the West.
As the Nets have stacked up wins, there have been discussions about them not beating the very best teams. There may be something to that, but not that much. You can only play who’s in front of you, and the Nets have been handling business like they’re supposed to. The next few games against the Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, and Cleveland Cavaliers will be a great test of their recent improvements, and a good showing will give the fans even more optimism as we head in to 2023.
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