Brooklyn Nets vs. Portland Trailblazers 11-20-16
Time: Sunday November 20, 2016, 3:30 PM ET
Venue: Barclay’s Center | Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network
Projected Starters:
Brooklyn: Isaiah Whitehead, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Bojan Bogdanovic, Trevor Booker, Brook Lopez
Portland: Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Maurice Harkless, Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis
Absences:
Brooklyn: Jeremy Lin, Caris LeVert
Portland: Festus Ezeli
The Brooklyn Nets are finally back in Brooklyn after a 1-3 west coast swing and a 1-4 road trip overall. Brooklyn won their first game against the Suns, but dropped the last three. Coming into town is Damian Lillard and the Portland Trailblazers. Portland has also lost three in a row including a disappointing loss to Jrue Holiday and the Pelicans last night.
Jeremy Lin is still out and Brooklyn, yet again, has to go up against one of the league’s best players and point guards. Damian Lillard has been a monster this season. Lillard is averaging 28.7 point per game as well as 4.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Brooklyn needs to somehow slow Lillard down in order to stay in this game.
Coming back to Brooklyn is Mason Plumlee. Plumlee has been having himself a pretty good season in Portland thus far. Plumlee is scoring 9.1 points and bringing down 6.4 boards a game.
Brooklyn needs to work on their shooting and their inside play after last night’s loss. Brooklyn got outscored by nearly 20 points in the paint and got out-rebounded by almost 20 as well. Trevor Booker needs to do better than four points and four rebounds in order for this team to be successful any given night.
Brooklyn looks to lean on Brook Lopez for points yet again. Lopez has been a monster scoring over 20 points in all but two games this month, not including the game of rest against the Clippers. Lopez averages 20.7 points per game in Nets wins and 18.3 in losses. 20 seems to be the threshold for Brook Lopez’s production in wins.
If Brooklyn can get rebounds and get production in the paint, they could win. If Damian Lillard scored less than his season average the Nets should be in good shape. This will be a tough game for both teams as the numbers on the year are pretty much even in every category. Brooklyn desperately needs a win to keep pace with the Knicks and the rest of the Eastern Conference.