When: 7:30 PM EST; Monday, March 2nd, 2015
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES
After an eight-game road trip that book-ended the New York City All-Star break, the Nets are back at the Barclays Center tonight to welcome the team with the NBA’s best record: the Golden State Warriors.
Brooklyn went 3-5 on the trip, but have won three of games since the break, with the most recent one being an impressive victory in Dallas over the Mavericks. Much of the recent success can be owed to Thaddeus Young, who has been a godsend since coming to the Nets from Minnesota at the trade deadline, as well as bit of a resurgence from Deron Williams, who is averaging 20 points on 52 percent shooting over his last two games.
Meanwhile, the Warriors are winding down their own inter-conference foray, on which they are currently 3-2. Last night, Golden State came back from a 26-point deficit in Boston to stun the Celtics, another team in the dogfight for No. 8 seed. Steve Kerr’s team has lost to the Pacers and Cavaliers so far on the trip but have crushed the Wizards and Raptors and with a 4.5-game cushion between the Warriors and the No. 2 team in the West–Memphis–losses here and there don’t matter too much.
Stephen Curry (23.9 ppg, 7.8 apg and 48.5 FG%) and Klay Thompson (22.1 ppg and 46.7 FG%) lead the way for the perimeter-oriented Warriors, who boast one of the league’s deepest benches in addition to its most formidable shooting backcourt. Former Net Shaun Livingston anchors a reserve unit that includes David Lee, Andre Iguodala, Leandro Barbosa and Marreese Speights to name a few key contributors. There’s a reason they’ve only lost 11 games this year.
Probable Lineups
GSW- Stephen Curry (PG), Klay Thompson (SG), Harrison Barnes (SF), Draymond Green (PF), Andrew Bogut (C)
BKN- Deron Williams (PG), Markel Brown (SG), Alan Anderson (SF), Joe Johnson (PF), Mason Plumlee (C)
Final Thoughts
Obviously, this isn’t the best matchup for the Nets, even considering their strong play as of late. Curry and Thompson are about as close to automatic from three and we all know how this team can struggle with perimeter defense from time to time. Also, with Bogut and Lee, Golden State has size down low and with Green and Barnes, some athletic wing-forwards who can make life difficult for Thad Young.
Even with this said, the Warriors are humans too and they played a tough game last night in Boston and didn’t get into New York until around 4:00 am today, so they’ll be relatively fatigued. Don’t count this one as a loss just yet.
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