When: 7:30 PM EST; Monday, December 8th, 2014
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network
UPDATE: Joe Johnson (flu) is also out. Looking more and more like a throwaway game for Brooklyn.
Tonight is a special night in Brooklyn. First off, LeBron James comes to town for the first time since re-signing with his (almost) hometown Cleveland Cavaliers this summer after four incredibly entertaining seasons with the Miami Heat. Secondly, the British royal family is in New York and will watch Nets-Cavaliers at Barclays. The King (a nickname for LeBron I’ve never liked) and the future King of England. Interesting.
Oh, and there’s going to be a basketball game played too and the Nets will be without Brook Lopez, who is expected to be out a week with a lower back strain. That doesn’t bode well for Brooklyn as Cleveland boasts one of the East’s better frontcourts with Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao. Consider that offensive rebounding machine Tristan Thompson comes off the bench and you realize that this matchup isn’t the best for the Nets.
In order to have a shot in this game, the Nets are going to need to make their shots, especially from three-point range. No one shot well against the Hawks (37.5 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from three) as the Nets got outscored 36-13 in the second quarter en route to a huge loss. Only Lopez produced well on offense. Something has to change.
Probable Lineups
CLE- Kyrie Irving (PG), Shawn Marion (SG), LeBron James (SF), Kevin Love (PF), Anderson Varejao (C)
BKN- Deron Williams (PG), Joe Johnson (SG), Bojan Bogdanovic (SF), Kevin Garnett (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
Final Thoughts
A meeting with the Bulls is upcoming on Wednesday for the Nets which is even worse news, making this game even more important. It’s not at all easy to beat this talented and explosive Cavaliers team but as the Nets showed last season by sweeping their season series against the Heat, they can do it. If they don’t, though, they’ll be three games under .500 again.
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