• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Brooklyn NY 4/3/16

Pelicans 106  Nets 87

 

After a 0-4-road trip the Nets returned to Barclays to face the lowly New Orleans Pelicans who are also not in playoff contention. The Pelicans were 28-47 and without star forward Anthony Davis, former Net Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon and Jrue Holiday. They only had 9 players available for action. Both teams used this game and will be using their remaining games to evaluate their current young players to see where they fit with their respective  teams moving forward.

 

Brook and thad young
Brook and Thad were shut down for the rest of the season. Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler NBAE via Getty Images

 

The Nets announced that they would be resting Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young for the remainder of the season, as there is no reason to risk injury to those two and the Nets are not going to make a playoff run. The Nets replaced the two starters with Henry Sims (C) and Thomas Robinson (F). The Nets were also without Donald Sloan and Bojan Bogdanovic.

 

Thomas Robinson showed some of his athleticism as he got the start for Lopez. Rondae Holliss-Jefferson had his moments during this game, as he seems to be one of the pieces that the team will look to grow next season. Wayne Ellington had a good first half with 8 points shooting 3-7 from the floor and 2-5 from behind the arc. Sean Kilpatrick continued his surprising play for the Nets as he had 15 points off the bench. Robinson had his 4th consecutive double double for the Nets as he finished with 11 points and 15 boards.

 

The Nets held the Pelicans scoreless for the first 6 minutes of the game. They played a focused defense to begin as the Pelicans just missed a lot of makeable shots. The Pelicans finally scored with 6:38 left in the first period. The Nets at that point led 7-2 however they would never lead again in this game.

 

Both teams got off to slow starts. The Pelicans settled in after their troubling start and took their first lead of the game with just under 3 minutes left in the first quarter. The Pelican went o a 14-2 run to end the quarter to take an 18-14 lead. They would never trail again. The Pelicans picked up their scoring at the beginning of the second quarter taking a 35-29 lead with 7:09 left in the half. There were no Nets players with more than 8 points before the half.

The Nets had 20 turnovers that led to 30 points for the visiting team. Coach Brown alluded to this stat during the postgame conference.

 

“Defensively we were not in-sync the whole night…they were able to get pretty much what they wanted.” – Coach Brown.

 

The Pelicans led 53-42 at the beginning of the second half. Both teams started the second half with turnovers, which led to a timeout by the Nets 35 seconds into the 3rd period.

For the Pelicans, Tim Fraizer showed why the team is so high on his play. He ran the offense well and controlled the flow of the game. He is calm when he has the ball and has a good feel for the NBA point guard position as he looked to set up his teammates for most of the afternoon. He had a career night with 19 points and 13 assists. Dante Cunningham and Luke Babbitt led the way  for the visitors. Babbitt finished with 21 points on 8-15 shooting and Cunningham had 14 points.

The Nets made a quick run in the 3rd as they cut the deficit to 6 just before the end of the 3rd period but the Pelicans would extend their lead at the beginning of the 4th as they took control of the game with an 8-0 run to start the period and led 85-69. The Nets could not get anything going after that point. The Pelicans kept their feet on the pedal and extended the lead.

The Pelicans shot 55% for the game and scored 60 points in the paint against the Nets. The home squad struggled from the field, shooting 38% and hitting 8 of their 23 attempts from behind the arc. Both teams also struggled from the free throw line shooting 60% from the charity stripe.

Nets have now lost their 5th in a row and their 5th game by double-digit deficits. With this season soon coming to an end, these remaining games will be pivotal for players who want to remain on the roster or for those looking to show what they can do for other teams next season.

The Nets next game will be Wednesday April 6th 2016 against the Washington Wizards.

Twitter: Sherman@shermangmz1

Email: Shermangmz1@gmail.com

Instagram: dash_nathan 

Main Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler NBAE via Getty Images

By Sherman Gomez

"Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court." "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller." "Last week messed around and got a triple double." I write about basketball sometimes and then I try to go play....

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