Brooklyn Nets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder 03-14-17
Time: Tuesday, March 14, 2017, 07:30 PM ET
Venue: Barclay’s Center | Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES Network, Fox Sports Go
Projected Starters:
Brooklyn:
Jeremy Lin, Randy Foye, Caris LeVert, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brook Lopez
Oklahoma City:
Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson, Taj Gibson, Steven Adams
Absences:
Brooklyn:
Oklahoma City:
None
The Brooklyn Nets have proven that they are not New York’s worst team this season by beating the Knicks on Biggie Night 120-112. Brook Lopez showed everyone why he is still a Net with six three-point shots. Kristaps Porzingis said that the Knicks’ offense makes no sense. Brooklyn received their first home win of 2017.
Up next, while searching for their first back-to-back win streak of the season, are the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder having a great year considering they lost Kevin Durant and got pretty much nobody to replace him. A large part of the reason for OKC’s success this season has been Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook has 32 triple-doubles this year, which is second all-time only to the Big O, Oscar Robertson. Russ is also averaging a triple-double, which, in today’s NBA, is nearly unheard of. Is Russ carries OKC to the playoffs, it is very likely he will win the MVP, and deservingly so.
That being said, if Brooklyn wants to win this game, they need to either let Westbrook do all of the damage and shut everyone else down, or try and find a way to shut Russ down. Brooklyn is probably safer going with the former than the latter.
Brooklyn will also have to rebound the basketball and take smart shots. If Lopez is on fire from three, let him get all the open shots from three. If they are not falling for Brook, feed him the ball in the post so he can use his size and skill to get high-percentage shots from down low to help draw fouls and to allow him to find his stroke.
This will definitely be a tough game for Brooklyn to win, especially with blizzard conditions outside in the real world. They can certainly do it, though, and it will be a party for Nets fans if they can steal this win tonight for back-to-back victories. That would make this day one of the better ones all season long.