Nets Come Up Short At Little Caesars Arena
Kenny Atkinson won’t mince words following the Brooklyn Nets 103-100 season opening loss on the road to the Detroit Pistons.
The Nets had their opportunities to throughout to be the team to take control of a matchup of two teams looking to start the season with a victory.
Detroit would be the team to do that in the third quarter as they used a 24-9 run in the middle of the third quarter to take a 13-point lead in what had been a mostly tight and competitive game.
Brooklyn would rally in the fourth quarter to take a 92-91 lead with 4:26 left to play after a basket from the Nets hot-hand on the night, Caris LeVert.
The Nets would have little answer for the Pistons ability to drive and score in the paint as Blake Griffin (26 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists), Andre Drummond (24 points, 21 rebounds), and Reggie Jackson (19 points, 4 assists) closed out Kenny Atkinson’s gritty team over the final four minutes.
With under 10 seconds to play and trailing 101-100, Caris LeVert would lose the ball out of bounds on a turnover. Brooklyn would have an opportunity to tie the game, but Joe Harris would miss a three-pointer coming out of the timeout as Brooklyn dropped their first game of the season.
An 46-39 edge in rebounds helped the Detroit Pistons — who only shot 42.2 percent from the field — edge the Nets on the scoreboard.
Both teams were careless with the ball as they committed a combined 36 turnovers over 48 minutes.
It was a porous night shooting the three ball for both as Brooklyn shot it worse with a 5-for-27 (18.5%) showing from three-point range.
Second-year center Jarrett Allen (17 points, 10 rebounds) was up to the challenge in a battle underneath the rim with the Detroit Pistons rebounding catalyst Andre Drummond.
Allen came up with a huge block on a dunk attempt by Blake Griffin early in the game and showed polish and touch when working around the basket on a 6-for-10 shooting night.
The two battled to a standstill at Little Caesars Arena as it was impressive to see Allen at times bother Andre Drummond boxing out for rebounds and defending Drummond in the low post.
Caris LeVert, who only started 10 games last season for Brooklyn, provided the Nets with a go-to scorer on the night as LeVert tied his career-high with 27 points (10-for-18 FG) to go along with 4 assists and 4 rebounds.
Always reliable guard Spencer Dinwiddie would provide a spark on the offensive end off the bench with 23 points and 6 assists. It was needed for the Nets with Brooklyn guard D’Angelo Russell (8 points, 3-for-9 FG) engulfed into a tough shooting night.
The Nets finished last season 28-54, but the coaching job of Kenny Atkinson caught a number of people’s attention as he managed with a core that was ravaged by injuries.
The injury bug has followed them into the regular-season as DeMarre Carroll, Allen Crabbe and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson all missed tonight’s season opener with injuries.
A team in rebuilding, there’s a number of positives for the Nets to take out of tonight’s tough loss.
Which player stood out tonight in the Brooklyn Nets season opener? Leave your comments below!
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