Nets Decide To Pass On Bringing Back Paul Pierce

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

July 13, 2014

The Brooklyn Nets off-season is shaping the 2014-15 Nets into a completely different looking team from the previous season, as the latest change will be that Paul Pierce won’t be returning to Brooklyn for a second season.

USA Today Sports

On Saturday night, Pierce decided to sign with the young, up and coming Washington Wizards for a two-year $11 million dollar contract, with a second year player option. Pierce will fit in nicely with Washington after their Small Forward from last season, Trevor Ariza signed with the Houston Rockets. Pierce certainly has some game left, as last season he averaged 13.5 PPG on 45% shooting. Pierce is also a great mentor to have for Otto Porter, who was the third overall pick in the 2013 draft, but didn’t get much playing time in his rookie season.

Most surprising about the departure of Paul Pierce, was that the Nets, who had his bird rights, just simply passed on him. The Nets don’t believe that they are title contenders, which is correct, and instead of giving playing time and money to Pierce, they have decided to try and develop their younger players, and try to reload in the 2016-17 season when they should have some salary cap flexibility.

Now most attention will go to Kevin Garnett, who is supposedly coming back to the Nets, despite not announcing that publicly yet. Even with the news of his long time teammate and friend Pierce leaving the Nets, Garnett is said to be excited, and likes the direction the Nets are heading in. If Garnett does return, some sort of mid-season buyout or trade if Brooklyn isn’t playing well could be very likely, as although Garnett will be making $12 million, he also wants to play for a contender.

The blockbuster deal from last season to bring Pierce, Garnett, and Jason Terry to Brooklyn turned out to be a failure for the Nets, who essentially traded three first round picks to win one round in the playoffs. The good sign for the Nets is that they are seeming to be cutting their losses well, as there is some young talent on the team for next season, and with a healthy Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and Joe Johnson, the Nets can still be a playoff team in the Eastern Conference.

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W2W4: Brooklyn Nets vs Golden State Warriors, February 22nd, 2014

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

February 22^th, 2014

W2W4: Brooklyn Nets vs Golden State Warriors

The Brooklyn Nets will be facing quite possibly their toughest game of the circus road-trip on Saturday in Golden State against the Warriors. Brooklyn is currently 3.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors for the Atlantic Division, and would love to be able to get a big win on Saturday.

barclayscenter.com

- Awaiting a Debut

Only one move was made before Thursdays Trade Deadline for the Nets, as they agreed to trade Reggie Evans and Jason Terry to Sacramento for Marcus Thornton. The trade wasn’t made official until Saturday afternoon, as Terry getting a physical was holding it up. Terry will however not be joining the Kings, as he will be out for the remainder of the regular season with a knee injury, but this will allow Evans and Thornton to both be eligible to play on Saturday. Thornton however is battling a stomach bug so he is listed as a game-time decision for the match-up against the Warriors. Thornton has had a disappointing last two seasons, but has scored over 18 points per game twice in his career, as Brooklyn will hope that he can thrive off their bench.

- Tough Test

Saturday will be no easy task for the Nets, as even though they have defeated the Warriors once, that was the last game of a long road trip for the Warriors. Golden State is currently (33-22), which has them at 7^th in the extremely tough Western Conference. Golden State may have one of the most talented rosters in the NBA led by Stephen Curry, who is leading the team in PPG with 24.4, and APG at 8.9. curry also lit up the Nets in their first meeting this season, as he scored a game-high 34 points. The Nets will be catching a little break, as Center Andrew Bogut is listed as doubtful to play with a shoulder injury that has kept him out of the last six games.

- Healthy Williams?

Going against one of the best and youngest back courts in the league in Curry and Klay Thompson, Brooklyn will need a good game from Deron Williams, who didn’t play in the first meeting. In the victory in Utah, Williams got banged up a bit taking hits to both his head and groin, but going against a quick guard like Curry it will be big test to see just how much the All-Star break helped the ankles of Williams. Against the Jazz Williams scored 19 points, but didn’t shoot particularly well, and for the Nets to get a upset road win, they will need an excellent performance from Williams.

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Plumlee Has Career Night Against Pelicans

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

February 9^th, 2014

New Orleans Pelicans vs Brooklyn Nets Post Game Recap

Final Score: Pelicans 81 Nets 93

The Brooklyn Nets behind a great first half were able to knock off the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday evening. The victory over the Pelicans moves the Nets to (23-26) on the season, which put them just 2.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors in the Atlantic Division.

Player of the Game: Mason Plumlee

sportspyder.com

Rookie Mason Plumlee had his best game as a pro on Sunday night, as the young big man brought a lot of energy for the Nets off the bench. Plumlee had a career-high 22 points on eight for 10 shooting, while doing a pretty good job getting to the free throw line nine times, where he hit six free throws. In addition to the career-high scoring night, Plumlee tied his season-best 13 rebounds too. Plumlee was the recipient to Jason Terry's 5,000^th career assists on an alley oop. Plumlee was also a factor on the defensive end, as he recorded two blocks, one being a ferocious swat off a Jeff Withy shot, and also had three steals to round out the best game of his career thus far.

Positives:

Plumlee wasn’t alone having a great game off the bench, as Mirza Teletovic had a great game as well. Teletovic was able to record a double-double despite struggling from three-point land, where he went just one from eight. He finished with 13 points on four for 12 shooting, and grabbed 11 rebounds. Alan Anderson also scored very well off the bench, as he added 13 points on five for nine shooting. The Nets bench finished with 59 points combined, easily outscoring their starters.

What gave the Nets such a huge lead going into halftime, was their excellent defense against the Pelicans. A 14-point first quarter was followed up by a 14-point second quarter for the Pelicans, who entered the locker room trailing 51-28. amazingly for the first time in Nets history they won a game with no starter scoring in double-digits, which shows how great the defense was, and how well the bench played on Sunday night.

Negatives:

The third quarter was a scary one for the Nets, as they started it with a 23-point lead that they quickly saw vanish. The Pelicans were able to cut the huge deficit down to a manageable 11-point game heading into the fourth, and if it wasn’t for the Nets bench getting into the game, it may have been a single-digit game heading into the fourth. The fourth quarter the Nets were able to play much better defense after allowing more points in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half, and held on to a 12-point victory.

The best player on the court by far for New Orleans was last years number one overall pick Anthony Davis, who had a great game despite the rest of his team playing so poorly. Davis finished with a game-high 24 points on 11 for 19 shooting, with nine rebounds, three steals, two assists, and one block. If Eric Gordon was ever able to provide some help for Davis this could have been a much different game for the Pelicans.

Next up for the Nets will be a few days off before playing the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday in Brooklyn.

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Nets Snap Three-Game Skid Against 76ers

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

February 3rd, 2014

Philadelphia 76ers vs. Brooklyn Nets Post Game Recap

Final Score: 76ers 102 Nets 108

The Brooklyn Nets were able to end their three-game losing streak on Monday night with a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at home without Joe Johnson. The win was a good one for the Nets, as they needed to beat a bad 76ers team, and the win moves them to (21-25) on the season, which is four games behind the Toronto Raptors in the Atlantic Division.

Player of the Game: Paul Pierce

nydailynews.com

Nets Forward Paul Pierce was the go to guy for the Nets on Monday night in the win, as he was the games leading scorer. Pierce scored 25 points on just five for nine shooting, as he did a great job getting to the foul line. When Pierce got to the foul line he made the most of it too, as he went a perfect 14 for 14 from the charity stripe. In the last four games Pierce has been getting to the line a lot, as in the three previous losses he was at the line seven times in each game. Without Johnson’s scoring in the starting lineup, Pierce did a great job helping out in the scoring department for Brooklyn

Positives:

Back in the Starting lineup for the second straight game, Deron Williams played much better than his three for 12 shooting performance in Indiana against the Pacers. On Monday, Williams scored 21 points on eight for 19 shooting, and he was good from three-point range, going three for seven. Williams also dished out six assists to round out a nice bounce back game after his struggles against the Pacers.

Off the bench for the Nets their wasn’t a whole lot of production without Andray Blatche or Andrei Kirilenko, but Mirza Teletovic did a good job picking up the slack scoring for Blatche. Teletovic scored 20 points on seven for 12 shooting, which included him, going five for nine from three-point range in 28 minutes.

Going against who is possibly the Rookie of the Year in Michael Carter-Williams, the Nets did a very good job defensively against the young Point Guard. Carter-Williams did score 21 points, but struggled with his shooting going six for 17 from the field. He also didn’t do a good job protecting the ball, as he turned it over six times, while only dishing out four assists. Overall it was a poor game by Carter-Williams, as the Nets did a great job defending him.

Shaun Livingston had yet another great game coming off his season-high of 24 points against the Pacers, as on Monday he didn’t score as much, but filled up the stat sheet nicely. Livingston scored 13 points on four for nine shooting with six rebounds, eight assists, and a career-high seven steals. A great all-around game from Livingston led to him having the best +/- of any player at +23.

Negatives:

The 76ers did a pretty good job keeping this game close despite being double-digit underdogs, as they were led by Thaddeus Young and off the bench Tony Wroten. Young did a good job in the starting lineup, as he scored 17 points on an efficient seven for 11 shooting to go along with five rebounds. Wroten led the charge off the bench with 18 points on six for eight shooting, while going six for nine from the foul line in his second straight game of scoring 18 points.

For the Nets they did have some struggles on the wings in this game without Johnson, as Alan Anderson and Jason Terry both played very bad. Anderson scored just five points in 31 minutes, as he went an awful one for eight from the field. Terry was just as bad off the bench, as he scored three points on one for five shooting. Terry, who was once one of the best bench players in the league, has only scored in double-figures once in 2014.

Next up for the Nets will be a little break before they host the defending Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.

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Nets Make It Three Straight With Victory Against Hawks

nydailynews.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

January 6th, 2014

Atlanta Hawks vs. Brooklyn Nets Post Game Recap

Final Score: Hawks 86 Nets 91

The Brooklyn Nets for the second time this season are on a three-game winning streak, as on Monday night they were able to beat one of the few Eastern Conference teams over .500 in the Atlanta Hawks. The win moves the Nets to (13-21) on the season, which puts them four games back of the Toronto Raptors in the Atlantic Division.

Positives:

- With Deron Williams missing his 12th game of the season due to his lingering ankle injury, Shaun Livingston stepped into the starting Point Guard role, and came through with a very nice game. Livingston played 34 minutes, scoring 12 points on six for 11 shooting. He also grabbed five rebounds, and had three steals in route to being +15 for the game.

- The Nets got a much needed boost from Joe Johnson, who erupted out of nowhere scoring wise, after not scoring in double-digits since Christmas before Monday night. Johnson finished with a game-high 23 points on 10 for 22 shooting, as he picked up his scoring without Williams. Johnson was clutch in the fourth quarter on a nice run for the Nets, and also had four assists in what was a much needed good game for Johnson, who besides one clutch shot in Oklahoma City had been flat out bad.

- Mirza Teletovic had a big impact off the bench for Brooklyn, as he provided some great scoring. Teletovic scored 16 points off the bench on six for 12 shooting, which included him, going four for nine from three-point range. Jason Kidd stayed with Teletovic down the stretch, and the move paid off, as Teletovic hit a corner three-pointer with 44 seconds left that gave the Nets a 89-84 lead.

- After their disastrous third quarter against the Cavaliers, the Nets bounced back with a great one on Monday against the Hawks, which was desperately needed after being outscored by 12 points in the second quarter. In the third the Nets outscored Atlanta 26-15, as the defense came out looking great in the third quarter, and then yet again in the fourth. The 15 points the Nets allowed in the third quarter was the least amount of points they have given up in any third quarter this season.

Negatives:

- After a nine point first quarter from Paul Pierce, which got the Nets off to a good start, Pierce disappeared for the rest of the game. Pierce finished the game going three for nine from the field, and was the only Net in the starting lineup with a negative +/-. Another former Celtic Jason Terry also struggled in this game, as off the bench Terry played 11 minutes and went zero for five from the field, with zero points.

The Nets will be hosting the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, as they look to make it four straight wins.

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