The Brooklyn Nets lost yet another game without their superstars after playing against the 7 seed Toronto Raptors. It was a blowout in Barclay’s Center and Toronto went home with the win. The next game for both teams is in Toronto where Kyrie cannot play. The Nets are in a very dangerous spot and risk falling to the 9 seed if the Hawks win a couple more games.
If the Nets do fall to the 9 seed they would have to play 2 play-in games and win them both to get to the playoffs. it is just going to make the task of getting to an NBA Finals much harder for the team. Some good news that has come from the organization is that Kevin Durant is very close to getting back on the court. The Superstar has been undergoing some tough practices and could be back next week.
The Raptors are currently the 7 seed in the Eastern Conference and seem to have established themselves at that position with the win over the Nets. The team has some really good young talent and GM Masai Ujiri has done a great job of drafting young talent. The star of the game against the Nets was the rookie Scottie Barnes who made his debut on Shaqtin’ a fool after the All-Star weekend.
The rookie went on to score 28 points and had 16 rebounds in the game. He was also a force defensively and had 5 steals and 1 block in the game. He was helped by 4 of his teammates who had scored in double digits. Malachi Flynn who replaced Fred VanVleet (injury) had 18 points and 5 assists, Precious Achiuwa had 20 points and 8 rebounds, Gary Trent Jr. – 12 points and 5 assists, and Thaddeus Young – 13 points. The Raptors went on to blow out the Nets 133-97.
The 4 players that scored in double digits for the Nets were LaMarcus Aldridge – 15 points, Rookie Cameron Thomas – 14 points, Seth Curry – 11 points, and Bruce Brown – 14 points. The lack of offensive star power was apparent on the Nets with not a single player scoring at least 20 points. They can only hope and pray that their stars become available as soon as possible and they make the playoffs.
