The Brooklyn Nets hot streak continued on Martin Luther King Day yesterday at Barclays Center in a 123-94 blowout win over the visiting Sacramento Kings.
Winning has become the norm in Brooklyn as the Nets(25-23) won their fourth straight and they also have a six game winning streak at Barclays Center.
Since Dec. 7 the Nets have been the NBA’s hottest team with a 17-5 record that’s shown tremendous maturity and resilience from a squad that was well on its way to the lottery again.
“I think we are growing. Earlier in the season if we were up five, teams probably would’ve come back and we would have been in a boxing match at the end of the game,” said Nets veteran forward DeMarre Carroll after the game. “Guys are maturing and we understand what it takes to win.”
The Nets are far removed from the team that went through a horrific eight game losing streak earlier this season. But the biggest signs of growth have come from point guard D’Angelo Russell who had his second consecutive 30 point game against the Kings (23-24) and was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from Monday, Jan. 14, through Sunday, Jan. 20.
“I think it’s off the court – how he is taking care of his body, doing the proper things off the court. (He’s) coming in, getting treatment, getting in the extra work,” continued Carroll, who finished the game with eight points. “The things that y’all don’t see, to me, that’s the biggest factor in his changed game.”
Russell finished the game against the Kings with 31 points, eight assists and without a single turnover after being named player of the week by the NBA.
The Kings are not a team to scoff at either as they’re also one of the NBA’s hottest young teams this season. Also behind another young point guard in De’Aaron Fox, who has made the Kings into the most lethal transition teams in the league.
The Nets got a first hand look at how fast they are after the Kings dropped 60 first half points on them.
“I thought they annihilated us in the first half with their transition buckets. We couldn’t get matched up. They were coming at you so fast, even off dead balls, makes,” said Kenny Atkinson. “This is one of the most impressive transition offense teams I’ve seen. They’re fast and we had real trouble with it.”
But it was a tale of two halves for the Nets and when the second half started so did the nets run to victory.
“We showed some clips, we talked about it. We said run back, it doesn’t matter your matchup, just pick up anybody. It’s a little bit like a pick-up game. You have to find somebody, you have to play them and the guys did a much better job in the second of at least limiting their transitions,” continued Atkinson.
Whatever the game plan was it worked as the Nets outscored the Kings 68-34 in the second half, holding them to nine fourth-quarter points on 16.7 percent shooting and six devastating turnovers.
“We obviously made some shots, but I thought our defense was excellent. I thought TG’s (Treveon Graham) job on Buddy Hield was fantastic. I don’t think he scored in the second half,” said Atkinson, who was concerned about Hield’s scoring ability before them game.
The Kings backcourt of Hield and Fox combined for 20 points on 8-24 shots from the field, which was easily one of their worst performances of the season.
In rare form the Nets also dominated the boards out rebounding the Kings 56-38 behind Jarrett Allen who scored eight points to go with his 12 rebounds and backup center Ed Davis, who finished the game with 16 rebounds.
The Nets are now in the thick of the playoff race with no signs of dropping in the standings. They’re currently sitting in sixth place a game and a half ahead of No.7 seed Miami Heat and two games ahead of The No. 8 Charlotte Hornets. If the winning continues the Nets will be playing well into the summer this season.
