Brooklyn Nets vs. Denver Nuggets 12-07-16
Time: Wednesday December 7, 2016, 7:30 PM ET
Venue: Barclay’s Center | Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network
Projected Starters:
Brooklyn: Isaiah Whitehead, Sean Kilpatrick, Bojan Bogdanovic, Trevor Booker, Brook Lopez
Denver: Will Barton, Emmanuel Mudiay, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Jusuf Nurkic
Absences:
Brooklyn: Jeremy Lin, Yogi Ferrell
Denver: Gary Harris, Nikola Jokic
The Brooklyn Nets have now lost three games in a row and look to stop the streak right where it is when the Denver Nuggets come to town Wednesday night. The Nuggets are 8-13 on the year and are coming off of a win against the Philadelphia 76ers but are only 2-5 in their last seven games. Needless to say, Brooklyn can win this game. Brooklyn needs to win this game.
Brooklyn, in order to win, needs to look to stop Danilo Gallinari and Will Barton. Barton, after missing three games, has played really well in the three games since returning. Gallinari is always a threat to score a lot of points really quickly from all over the floor. His preference though is the three-point shot. If the Nets can somehow stop both of these players, it will be a good start.
Another category Brooklyn needs to perform well in is rebounding and points in the paint. Brooklyn dominated both categories Monday night against the Wizards, but they still lost. The loss is mainly because John Wall is a really good point guard and Brooklyn has no point guard. Turnovers also killed Brooklyn Monday night as they committed a whopping 22 of them.
Sean Kilpatrick looks to keep up his amazing performances against the Nuggets and it is likely he does. The Nuggets are not that great of a team and #Skilpatrick is hard to match up with. Kilpatrick flies all over the floor and shoots from everywhere. If Kilpatrick is covered he needs to get the ball down low. Jusuf Nurkic is a solid big man as is Kenneth Faried, but both Brook Lopez and Trevor Booker can match-up nicely against them. Feed Brook and Booker the ball as much as possible to avoid turning the ball over and taking stupid long range shots.
Brooklyn needs to play smarter and cleaner against the Nuggets or else they will lose a fourth straight. Brooklyn has actually won three of their five games against a Western Conference team. In the past, Brooklyn or the Nets franchise as a whole, has routinely struggled against the West. Hopefully this is the year that all changes.