Nets Win Battle of Britain

Final Score: Nets 127 – 110 Hawks

Key Stats:

1) The Nets shot 16/27 from three

2)  Hawks were out rebounded 40-26

3) Joe Johnson had 26 points at half time

Pre Game Interviews

– Despite struggling to deal with the size and length of the Brooklyn team coach Budenholzer stated before the game the Hawks “were not looking for another centre” on the trade market.

– Jason Kidd mentioned numerous times how well coached the Hawks team were, it was obvious he had a lot of respect for what Budenholzer is doing in Atlanta.

– Kidd mentioned that Shaun Livingston had been “huge for us”, and that his “calmness under pressure and understanding of the game” were two of his major strengths.

– Kidd jokingly mentioned before the game “this tie thing has become a big deal” he went tieless in London and got another big win for the up and coming Nets.

– Kidd mentioned that he likes his team’s ball movement when they go small, despite Blatche being a power forward by trade he hinted that if  he can adapt to playing the centre position then he would gain more playing time.

– I asked Mike Scott and Shelvin Mack about Demarre Carroll, they said they had both spoken to him last night, they confirmed he had a baby boy and it did indeed have 10 fingers and 10 toes.

Game Observations

– Teague is having a breakout year so far, I can see why. He has tremendous body control, a good handle and is possible one of the best guards at changing speeds and getting his defender off balance.

– Kidd decided to put Livingston on Kyle Korver early, this proved to be successful as he didn’t hit a shot until the 4^th quarter. Livingston did well on Korver for most of the game, has found himself to be the Nets defensive stopper in recent weeks guarding the likes of Durant, Derozan and Lebron.

– The Hawks cheerleaders gave us a particularly exhilarating rendition of “this is how we do it” after the 1st quarter.

– The Hawks interior defence looked good early on as they were blocking and altering shots, however this forced Brooklyn to shoot from outside which later worked in their favour as they caught fire from beyond the arc.

– Despite Andray Blatche having a good game, there was a play in the second quarter where he tried to show off his point guard skills, as you can imagine it didn’t go well #Shaqtinafool. He did however show himself to be a beast on the offensive glass, he finished the game with six of the Nets 12 offensive rebounds.

– Without The Lottery Mafia’s unsung hero Demarre Carroll in the line up the Hawks struggled to find anyone capable of slowing down Joe Johnson (29pts 11/15 shooting). The Nets consistently took advantage of mismatches against Lou Williams, Dennis Schroeder and Shelvin Mack. I asked Mike Scott after the game how much did they miss him, he responded saying “He is one of the leaders of our defence, he was on Joe the other week and despite Joe still getting numbers, we forced him to be more inefficient. “

– Shelvin Mack looks to be really finding his feet as a pro, he had a nice all round game in London exhibiting good point guard skills, the ability to stretch the floor and to create off the dribble. I spoke to him the day before and he spoke about all the summers he and Kemba Walker have spent together over the years and how they are always stealing each other’s moves. He also discussed how at Butler he was needed to score, that is why some in the draft process labelled him a shoot first point guard.

– Millsap didn’t have one of his best games, but you saw flashes that suggested why people were saying he was one of the underrated big men in the league. Despite not being a flashy player, he is effective due to his ability to move off the ball and his soft touch around the basket.

– Mike Scott looks like a player who could breakout with the right opportunity, he has a smooth stroke and strong all round scoring instincts. The challenge for Scott is to improve his rebounding and team defence, he sometimes gets a little lost in Budenholzer’s defensive system. However, with the stretch four being such a commodity in today’s NBA he don’t be surprised if someone pursues him via the trade market or Free Agency next summer.

Post Game Interviews

– Post game Kidd pointed to the season high 38 assists that his team had, he said as a player and now a coach assist numbers is always something he has valued.

– Budenholzer said post game that you have to give Brooklyn credit for the way they shot the ball, he also went on to say that many of the Eastern conference teams are underrated, including the Nets.

-Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Joe Johnson were asked if Andrew Bynum would fit well in Brooklyn, KG replied “take that up with Billy”  KG and Pierece both pointed to Joe Johnson as if he was the X factor for the Nets, they said “he is fun to watch, we had the best seat in the house”.

Rookie Watch

HAWKS

Schroeder:  I came away a little underwhelmed with the German rookie, despite being efficient (8 points 4/7 shooting) I didn’t see where all the Rondo comparisons were coming from. He is obviously very young and has more of an adjustment to make than most rookies as he is coming from overseas so his ceiling is still pretty high. I did notice two things which he definitely needs to works on, his jump shot and hitting the weight room. His jumper has a very slow release and doesn’t look NBA ready as of yet, he should try and quicken his release and get as many reps as possible in during the season. Schroeder was the smallest guy out there. Obviously in Europe size and strength are not quite as important, but he is going to have to get a little stronger if he wants to finish through contact in the NBA.

Antic: Pero has a fairly average game, he displayed a decent jump shot and soft touch around the basket, but didn’t really do anything to wow me on either end. At 31 years of age, I think what you see is what you get, he is a solid big who has good hands and can stretch the floor.

NETS:

Plumlee: My first reaction when seeing Plumlee was that he is a really big guy, he definitely has enough strength and size to compete with NBA calibre bigs. He also continued to  display how athletic he was with an alley oop in the 4^th quarter. One worrying feature of his game is his jump shot, he seems to shoot the ball from his palm not his fingers, this means there ball is pushed towards the basket with quite a flat, inconsistent trajectory. After showing considerable improvement in his free throw shooting in his final year at Duke there is a chance he can further improve this.