The Brooklyn Nets dropped their seventh in a row when they got blown out by the Atlanta Hawks 117-97 Tuesday night. The win gave the Hawks their seventh straight win. Brooklyn now sits at 8-29 on the season.
The leading scorer in the game was Brook Lopez with 20 points on 8-14 shooting. For the Hawks, Dennis Schroder led the way with 19 points. Schroder tallied up a double-double on the night when he dished out ten assists.
Brooklyn was relatively close after the first quarter and then they went ahead and got dominated in the second quarter. The Nets allowed the Hawks to score 26 points compared to their 14. Brooklyn, needless to say, was never able to overcome that terrible second quarter and the Hawks practically coasted to victory.
Jeremy Lin is still out, as you all know, but when he went ot go give Dwight Howard a handshake, he got dabbed on. Not only that, but Howard then laughed and walked away without giving Lin any respect. Why Howard did this is unforeseen, but it was a gesture of terrible sportsmanship, in my opinion.
A big difference maker in this game was the free-throws. The Hawks attempted 15 more free-throws than Brooklyn did. When you keep fouling a team and allow them to get free points and get their stroke at the free-throw line, you are going to have trouble winning.
Grading the Players
Caris LeVert and Bojan Bogadanovic get A’s for this one. In LeVert’s 23 minutes of action, he scored 11 points on 4-9 shooting. The rookie also added in three rebounds and two assists on the night. LeVert had a couple of nice looking shots and he even got himself a nice slam dunk. LeVert is progressing nicely for the limited action he has been able to see.
Bojan Bogdanovic, meanwhile, scored 16 points on 5-10 shooting, including 3-5 from the line. Bogie started off hot as he made his first three three’s. Bojan was a contributor this game as he snagged six rebounds and dished out four assists to go along with his one steal. This is the production Brooklyn needs from Bojan night in and night out.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson gets a C tonight. RHJ got the start with Trevor Booker being out and was slotted at the power forward position. In that respect, he did not get a D. Going up against Dwight Howard and Paul Millsap down low, RHJ still managed to grab seven rebounds on the night. RHJ also notched ten points, but did it on a mere 2-9 shooting night.
Joe Harris is yet again a recipient of the F. Harris, starting again, scored 2 points. That is right, two. One 1-2 shooting. He also only grabbed one rebound. Harris is a hindrance on this Nets team as a starter. He has not produced any of the games he has started and it is about that time he does not start any more.
Brooklyn will have Wednesday off but will have a game Thursday. Thursday’s game is the front end of a back-to-back for Brooklyn. The back-to-back starts off against the New Orleans Pelicans in Brooklyn. The Pelicans may not have Anthony Davis so maybe Brooklyn can steal this one. The Hawks will be off to Atlanta to await the Celtics and their eighth straight win.