By Ryan McDonald (@RonnieMac90)
March Record: 8-6
In the month of March, the Brooklyn Nets improved their record to 42-31. It was a tough month schedule wise which included a 6 game west coast road trip.
The West Coast Road Trip - The Brooklyn Nets 6 game road trip had them face off against some good and desperate opponents. The Nets managed to break even on the road trip, 3-3. They faced the Mavericks, the Clippers, the Suns, the Trailblazers, the Nuggets, and the Jazz. The only team out of the playoff picture out of these teams were the Phoenix Suns, whom they beat handedly. The Nuggets and Clippers are safely in the playoffs, while the Mavericks,
Trailblazers, and Jazz are battling it out with the Lakers for the 8th seed.
Signature Wins: @DAL, @Portland
@DAL - To kick off their road trip, the Nets faced the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas. Having already lost to the Mavericks once this month in Brooklyn, the Nets had revenge on their mind and certainly succeeded with a 113-96 victory.
The game was tied at 51 at halftime, and then Deron Williams decided to break it. Deron put in 26 points in the 2nd half on his way to 31 points with 6 assists. It was a somewhat big game for Deron mentally, as he received boos from the Dallas crowd for not going to the Mavericks in free agency, it is also Deron’s hometown. This didn’t seem inhibit his play in the least.
Brook Lopez had one of his best games of the season against Dallas, scoring 38 points on 15-22 shooting with 11 rebounds. 1 shy of his career high, and a season high, Lopez seemed like he could do no wrong on the offense end of the court. With the Deron-Lopez punch working to perfection, the Nets were able to put away the Mavericks pretty easily.
@Portland - Without Joe Johnson, the Nets had to face the Portland Trailblazers, a team in desperate need for a win to keep their playoff chances alive. Through some unlikely sources, the Nets were able to pull off a 111-93 victory.
It was an overall dominating performance by the Nets, and a very balanced offensive show from them as well. The Nets had 6 players in double figures. Brook Lopez put in his somewhat-now standard game with 28 points on 12-22 shooting. However, the shocker was Reggie Evans’ performance.
Reggie Evans went for 22 points, matching a career high, an 26 rebounds, a new career high. Evans dominated the glass and kept scoring off put backs, with 12 offensive rebounds.
As a team, the Nets outrebounded by the Blazers by 14 and only had 9 turnovers which was their key to success.
Bad Losses: ATL, @DEN
ATL - Before their west coast trip, the Nets actually had a shot to tie up the Knicks for 1st in the Atlantic division. A bad loss in Brooklyn to the Hawks kept them from achieving that goal, losing 93-105.
It was a bad defensive performance combined with a poor shooting night. The Hawks shot 52% from the field while the Nets only shot 41%. Brook Lopez had a lot of trouble with Al Horford who scored 22 points on 11-21 shooting. Lopez has struggled with good post players all season, and Horford wasn’t any different. Lopez will need to improve in this area if the Nets wish to make any noise come playoff time.
@DEN - Everything seemed to align for the Nets to steal one from the Denver Nuggets. Ty Lawson, the Nuggets athletic point guard was out for the game. However, the Nets struggled oddly enough with rookie guard Evan Fournier and lost 87-109.
Joe Johnson also did not play in this game, but that’s no excuse as this game wasn’t as close as the score indicates, and they lost by 22. The Nets struggled with the fast break and could just not keep the Nuggets out of the paint. The Nuggets shot 56% from the field, and mostly got layups and dunks. Sloppy offensive play caused 19 turnovers which led to easy baskets for the Nuggets. This was just another reminder that the Nets aren’t quite there yet in terms of being elite.
Key Players
- Brook Lopez had a superb month of March scoring 20.6 ppg on 55% shooting. However, his rebounding slacked only grabbing 6 a game in March. Scoring wise, Lopez has been consistent all season, however one thing to note is that teams have adjusted and started to make Lopez the focal point of what they need to stop. Lopez seems to struggle with all the hands and reaches he now faces so look for Lopez to make an adjustment with his passing out of the paint.
Grade: A
-Deron Williams also had a superb month of March scoring 21.9 ppg on 47% shooting. He also averaged 9 assists a game. Both higher than his season’s average, this was the first month Deron looked really healthy. However, it’s known that he isn’t quite 100% nor will he be until he has surgery on the bone spurs in his ankle in the off-season.
Grade: B
-Joe Johnson had an injury in the month of March and only played 10 games. Johnson only put in 13 points a game on his season’s average 42% field goal percentage. A bad month to a bad year thus far, he has been the Nets clutchest player, hitting big shots in crunch time but he certainly isn’t earning that max contract he’s being paid.
Grade: C
-Reggie Evans had one of the best months of his career, tying his career high for points, 22, and setting his career high for rebounds, 26. Evans averaged 15 rebounds a game in March, his season’s average is at 10. An impressive month, he kept the Nets in many games with his second chance opportunities he provided.
Grade: A
Overall Grade for the Team: B-
Only 2 games over .500 for the month and blowing a chance for the division, a B- is probably a bit generous. The Nets have goals to win a championship but right now it’s apparent that they aren’t on that level. They’ll need to improve their play significantly, Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace will have to step up and play like they did in the past for the Bobcats and Hawks respectively.
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