Nets Lose by 44 Against Trail Blazers

nydailynews.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

February 26th, 2014

Brooklyn Nets vs. Portland Trail Blazers Post Game Recap

Final Score: Nets 80 Trail Blazers 124

The Brooklyn Nets, who were looking to get within one game of the .500 mark with a win on Wednesday night, but were dominated by the Portland Trail Blazers without LaMarcus Aldridge. The loss moves the Nets to (26-29) on the season, and they are now five games behind the Toronto Raptors in the Atlantic Division. 

Player of the Game: Deron Williams

On a night when the Nets almost lost by 50 points there are basically no positives, but Deron Williams did look healthy yet, as the bounce in his step is defiantly there, and he was looking very good driving to the basket. Williams played 24 minutes, and scored a team-high 12 points on four for 10 shooting to go along with three assists, three steals, and one block.



Negatives:

The Nets bench figured to have a pretty sizeable advantage against the Blazers, but in the blowout loss Brooklyn’s bench was destroyed by Portland’s. Mo Williams led the scoring barrage for the Blazers bench, as he scored a game-high 21 points off the bench, with seven assists, six rebounds, and one steal in 27 minutes. Williams however wasn’t the only 20-point scorer off the bench for Portland, as Will Barton exploded for 20 points on eight for 13 shooting with 11 rebounds and four assists. Barton had the highest +/- in the game going +39. C.J. McCollum added 11 points and Victor Claver added 13, as Portland had four players off the bench finishing in double figures.

For the second straight game the Nets main gun off the bench Andray Blatche really struggled. Blatche went one for six from the field, scoring just three points, and in his last two games is shooting just three for 16 from the field. Marcus Thornton picked a bad game to makes his Nets debut, as off the bench he had a poor shooting performance from deep, shooting just one for six from three-point range, and finished shooting four for 11 overall with nine points. 

The starting lineup for the Blazers played very well without their best player. Damian Lillard didn’t need to score 30+ points, but he had a nice game none the less, scoring 14 points on six for 11 shooting in 29 minutes. Nicholas Batum was the leading scorer for the Blazers starting five, as he scored 19 points on six for 12 shooting with six rebounds, and six assists in 29 minutes.

Next up for the Nets will be the second half of their back to back in Denver against the Nuggets on Thursday, as they will look to improve on their (3-10) record on the second part of a back to back.