It was an evening off for the starters.
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn rested start line guard Spencer Dinwiddie and sat Nic Claxton (proper thumb sprain/left Achilles tendinopathy), Cam Johnson (proper knee soreness) and Royce O’Neale (left knee soreness) all resulting from damage in Brooklyn’s 118-113 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
Ben Simmons (left knee/again soreness) missed his eighth straight recreation because the All-Star break, and Vaughn load-managed ahead Mikal Bridges, who didn’t see the ground after enjoying the whole opening interval.
It was a tactical choice by Vaughn — though he mentioned he merely rode a hot-shooting bench that gunned the Nets again into the sport from down 25.
The Nets had been already heavy underdogs towards the Bucks — who personal the NBA’s finest file — even with out Giannis Antetokounmpo, the previous league MVP who sat Thursday night time due to “right hand soreness.”
If Vaughn performed his starters and rode all of them recreation, there was a superb likelihood the Nets would nonetheless lose — and have lifeless legs for Friday’s matchup towards Anthony Edwards’ Timberwolves.
Instead, Vaughn pulled the plug on the starters early. Bridges performed the whole first quarter then sat the remainder of the sport. Nerlens Noel, who began instead of Claxton in simply his second recreation since signing a 10-day contract in Brooklyn, performed 18 minutes.
Dorian Finney-Smith and Seth Curry performed 11 minutes apiece, and Joe Harris performed 10 minutes.
“It was more so kind of the way the game unfolded a little bit with the lead they had after the first quarter,” Vaughn mentioned postgame. “It was gonna take a lot for that group to come back, so went with the idea of some fresh legs and see if we can turn it around, junking the game up a little bit. So more so in line with that.”
Instead, Vaughn opted to go along with the bench. The Nets set a brand new file for many bench factors in a recreation on franchise historical past with 98 factors coming from gamers who didn’t begin.
Patty Mills scored 23, Cam Thomas added 21 and rookie Dru Smith scored 17 factors.
Vaughn mentioned he determined not to return to his starters when the Nets turned a 25-point gap right into a single-possession recreation within the fourth quarter as a result of he needed to journey the staff that helped erase the Bucks’ lead within the first place.
“That group, I think had a great rhythm and momentum of what they were trying to accomplish on the floor,” Vaughn mentioned. “So more so than anything, the thought was to with that group and stay with that group.”
Whether or not Vaughn supposed to relaxation the whole Nets core rotation, the sunshine work day leaves Brooklyn’s premier gamers with recent legs coming into Minnesota.
The Nets stay inside hanging distance of the Knicks for the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com