Brooklyn Nets vs. Los Angeles Lakers 12/14/16 ScoreThe Brooklyn Nets improve to 7-17 on the season as they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 107-97. This loss for the Lakers is now their eighth in a row. The Brooklyn Nets were missing star Jeremy Lin yet again as a late scratch after pregame warmups. The reasoning for his absence is listed as lower back tightness.
Despite Jeremy Lin being injured for the game, Brooklyn had three starters with over 20 points. Bojan Bogdanovic had 23 points, eight of which came from the free-throw line. Sean Kilpatrick had 22 points 5 assists and four rebounds. Kilpatrick was also an impressive 9-10 from the charity stripe. Brook Lopez was the third starter with 20 points, with an even 20 on the night.
Trevor Booker was a monster tonight for Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a team that lacks rebounding, but Booker took care of business tonight. Booker brought down 18 rebounds to go along with his eight points; barely shy of another double-double. If Booker can continue to be dominant like he was tonight, Brooklyn will be in good shape.
Both teams struggled from the field tonight as the Lakers shot 38.5% and Brooklyn shot 38.4%. Brooklyn did go 30-40 from the free-throw line, which is always a good sign. The radio announcer kept saying it; move the ball and force the bad defensive team (Lakers) to foul you. Foul they did and the free-throws kept Brooklyn in the game early on.
Grading the Players
Trevor Booker, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Brook Lopez get A’s on the night. I talked about Booker above. The man can do anything. He can run the fast break, finish on the fast break, rebound, dive for balls, steal, block, and even dish out assists.
Bojan Bogdanovic was the leading scorer of the game with 23 points which came off of 6-13 shooting and 8-10 form the free-throw line. Bogdanovic has really changed his game from being a long range shooter to a slasher and it is really working out well for him. Bogdanovic did shoot from range tonight, too, though, going 3-7.
Brook Lopez scored 20 points on 8-19 shooting. Lopez also brought down seven rebounds and blocked a shot. Those numbers are what Brooklyn wants and needs from Brook every night. The large amount of missed three’s, though, is something Brook needs to work on as he went 1-7.
Sean Kilpatrick gets a B+ on the night with his 22 points. He was only 5-13 from the field, but did go 9-10 from the free-throw line. If Kilpatrick can continue to get to the charity stripe and start to hit his shots, he will continue to be an extremely dangerous weapon for this Nets offense.
Isaiah Whitehead gets a C- on the night. Whitehead was efficient in his shooting going 3-4 with eight points, but the rookie fouled out with almost four minutes left to play. On top of that, he only dished out two assists. Not the best game from the rookie point guard.
Good win from Brooklyn tonight despite missing Jeremy Lin. It is always a good sign when this team wins without their best player. Brooklyn, at 7-17, travels to Orlando to take on the Magic Friday night. The Lakers will try to end their losing skid against a beatable team in the 76ers in Philadelphia Friday night as well.