Brooklyn Nets vs Cleveland Cavaliers 12/23/16 ScoreThe Brooklyn Nets got beat down hard by the defending champions in Cleveland by the Cavaliers. Brooklyn fell behind by double digits early, and could never compete with the champions. Brooklyn was down by more than forty points at times in this game. It is almost a miracle that they lost by only 20 points.
The leading scorer in this game was none other than King James. LeBron James scored 19 points on the night to go along with his five rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Kevin Love also had a big night with 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Brook Lopez led the Nets in scoring with 16 points. Lopez shot 7-11 from the field but did not attempt a free-throw, which is pretty surprising. Brooklyn needs to do a better job of feeding Lopez the ball down low and Lopez needs to do a better job of being aggressive down low to draw fouls. With Lopez shooting 7-11, he needs to get the ball more because he was clearly shooting well on the night.
Jeremy Lin shot 50% form the field going 5-10 and scoring 10 points to go along with six assists. Lin still is not in his full-form, but he is still playing pretty well considering he missed five weeks due to injury.
Brooklyn just came out flat and stayed flat all game. Well until the fourth when the reserves came in. That was Brooklyn’s saving grace. They scored 42 points in the final frame compared to Cleveland’s 21. That quarter was the reason why Brooklyn only lost by 20 points on the night.
Grading the Players
Spencer Dinwiddie is really the only player I can give an A to. Dinwiddie played 21 minutes and scored 13 points on 6-7 shooting. Dinwiddie also added in three assists, three rebounds, and a steal. For someone that is fighting for minutes, and getting them with Whitehead’s injury, he had himself a nice game against a really good team.
Justin Hamilton gets a B- on the night. Hamilton has not been himself lately since missing a handful of games due to migraines. But, with Trevor Booker out for rest purposes, Hamilton got the start. In place of Booker, Hamilton scored eight points and brought down six rebounds and blocked a shot. He is no Trevor Booker, but considering his struggles and being thrown into the starting lineup, he could have done much worse.
Bojan Bogdanovic gets an F on the night. I hate giving out F’s, but Bogie deserves this one. Bojan scored zero points on the night. Zero. Bogdanovic went 0-5 from the field and chipped with with two rebounds and an assist. Bogie needs to do much more if the Nets are to compete with teams of Cleveland’s caliber.
Brooklyn falls to 7-22 on the season, still dead last in the Eastern Conference. The have two days off for Christmas and to regather themselves after a rough two games. They take on the Charlotte Hornets in Brooklyn Monday night. The Cavaliers will take on their Finals foe from the past two seasons on Christmas day. Stephon Curry and company will be a fun game to watch against LeBron James and company Christmas Day.