On Tuesday night, the Brooklyn Nets opened up their 2014-15 campaign unofficially by beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 111-94 at Barclays Center. The game was Brooklyn’s first preseason matchup of the new basketball season, and in addition to representing Brook Lopez’ return from injury and Jarrett Jack’s team debut, was the NBA debut of the Nets’ rookies.
Bojan Bogdanovic, Markel Brown, and Cory Jefferson all played in their first ever NBA game on Tuesday, and all were probably nervous to some extent, but according to people who were there and the box score (remember, game wasn’t on TV), they all did fine.
Bojan hit two threes–which are expected to be a big part of his game–en route to eight points while Markel and Cory weren’t able to score, combining to go 0-for-2 from the field in 16 minutes of play. Again, the preseason opener against a non-NBA team so take from that information what you will.
The best news to come from Tuesday night, though, is that noone got hurt. The second-best news? That Brook Lopez and Deron Williams looked pretty darn good.
Brook was his usual, efficient self on offense, hitting eight of his 12 attempts for 20 points. But, once again, his rebounding problem reared its ugly head, as he only grabbed five boards against inferior competition. Granted, he only played 24 minutes, but it’s still a problem to watch because of its ubiquity in recent seasons.
D-Will was probably the most impressive player for the Nets–Jeremy Pargo of Maccabi went off for 27 points, so he was the best player on the floor overall–as he came off an offseason ankle surgery looking effective. The seven assists he compiled also add to a solid return performance.
Mirza Teletovic, Mason Plumlee, and Andrei Kirilenko all contributed nicely after the summer layoff, as they all figure to be important pieces of the Brooklyn puzzle for the 2014-15 campaign. Jarrett Jack scored eight and collected five assists in his Nets debut.
Yes, I know, this game was against a Maccabi team that plays in the Euroleague, which is certainly a level below the NBA. But with only one preseason game in the books, it’s all we have to go off of.
Now, the Nets are in China, to play two games with the Sacramento Kings–and former Net Reggie Evans–over the next few days. On Sunday, at 1 am Eastern, the two teams face off and then again on Wednesday. After that, Brooklyn returns stateside to take on the Celtics twice (once in Boston and once in Brooklyn) with a home contest against the 76ers sandwiched in there.
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