• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Tonight the 1-8 Brooklyn Nets face the 10-0 Golden State Warriors. The Nets are coming off a loss at the hands of the Sacramento Kings. The Kings were led by DeMarcus Cousins, who had 40 points and 13 rebounds. The Nets face another big time scorer and the reigning MVP, Stephen Curry tonight.

If the Nets hope to contain Curry they will need to do what no other team has done early this season and thats slow him down. He has been in a very good offensive groove and has shown no signs of letting up. Curry has been masterful, his shot making ability has been uncanny and he has led the Warriors to an unblemished start to the season. Throwing different defenders at him so that he sees different looks is a good way to slow Curry. They also need to keep him off the three-point line and try to make him give up the ball. Curry cannot be allowed to just do whatever he wants on the court without some type of resistance. He needs to see a hand in his face on every shot and they need to make him uncomfortable on both ends. Jarrett Jack is expected to start tonight and he should look to be a little more aggressive offensively if the Nets want to slow down Curry.

The Nets must also try to contain some of the other Warriors, Curry’s backcourt partner Klay Thompson is averaging 15.5 points per game on the season and has not had one of his breakout games on the offensive end. The Nets need not focus only on Curry and forget about him. Draymond Green is very active on both ends of the floor and he brings energy on every possession with the Warriors at home this can become a problem. If the crowd gets into it early the Nets may not be able to recover. The Nets cannot allow themselves to get into an early deficit.

brook-lopez
Brook Lopez must establish himself tonight.. Photo: Getty Images/Rob Carr

 

As always the Nets fortunes begin and end with Brook Lopez, he needs to establish his presence on both ends of the court. Against a team like the Warriors who play the small ball game very well, the Nets will need to try to slow down the game so they can effectively use Lopez in the paint. Brook has to be aggressive; he goes up against a combination of Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut.

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Johnson once again has to be aggressive and take some of the scoring pressure off of Brook. The Warriors may throw different defenders at him; Green and Andre Iguodala will most likely share that responsibility. Thaddeus Young has been offensively inconsistent to begin the season however he like Draymond Green can do other things on the court besides scoring. He will need to be active tonight on the boards and defensively focused if the Nets want to come out with a victory tonight.

 

The Nets must limit the second chance opportunities for the Warriors and that begins with team rebounding. Scoring will have to be a priority tonight; this is the only way that they can keep up with the high-powered offense of the defending NBA Champions. The Warriors are number 1 in scoring in the league while the Nets rank 28th. The Warriors look to extend their winning streak to 11 games while the Nets look to notch just their 2nd victory on the season.

Twitter: Sherman@shermangmz1

Email: Shermangmz1@gmail.com

Photo: USA Today Sports

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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