Seven nuggets for seven 3-pointers the Nets drained in the second quarter of their 135-130 win over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.
1. It doesn’t take much to get a good look against the Nuggets right now. Too many times, they look unprepared to handle something as simple as, say, a dribble hand-off on the wing six seconds into the shot clock.
All Allen Crabbe does is shoot 3s. He gets up 8.9 shots per game, six of which come from behind the arc. In the play above, Monte Morris and Juancho Hernangomez don’t communicate and let Crabbe bang home a wide-open one. It was one of 19 3-pointers the Nets made in the game.
The Nuggets scored more than enough to win. They just couldn’t get stops, which has been the case a lot lately. Since Dec. 5, they are allowing 112.5 points per 100 possessions — the sixth-worst mark in the league.
2. Injuries have forced Michael Malone to experiment with some funky lineups. On Wednesday, he rolled out a Jamal Murray-Malik Beasley-Will Barton-Mason Plumlee-Nikola Jokic starting five, Denver’s ninth different starting lineup in 2019. That group got off to a great start but looked sluggish after halftime, which irked Malone, who subbed all of them out hockey style with 7:59 to go in the third quarter after Denver fell behind by 21.
“That’s back-to-back games where we have guys in our starting lineup that are out there and not playing as hard as they need to play,” Malone said.
Denver’s starters fought back in the fourth quarter, whittling Brooklyn’s lead to as few as six, but by then it was too late.
3. D’Angelo Russell looked like James Harden Lite. He’s a lefty lead ball handler who can hits shots off the dribble and set his teammates up. His final line Wednesday — 27 points (6 of 9 from 3) and 11 assists — looked like something The Beard throws up on an average night.
Russell hit a trio of pull-up 3s. His final one, seen below, was a backbreaker for Denver, which squandered a two-on-one fastbreak and then watched Russell hit from deep along the right wing.
Russell, who last week was picked as an injury replacement for Victor Oladipo in the All-Star Game, is having a breakout fourth season. He’s averaging 19.8 points and 6.4 assists for a surprisingly competitive Nets team. The 22-year-old has developed into one of the game’s most dangerous 3-point shooters off the bounce. He’s made the seventh-most pull-up 3s in the NBA this season.
4. Rough night for Trey Lyles, who was a minus-21 in 22 minutes. Lyles scored 15 points, but he was an overwhelming net negative because of plays like this:
The Nets poked the ball away from Lyles when he was trying to post up twice. He committed three turnovers overall.
It’s no secret that Lyles has struggled with his shot this season. He scored the basketball efficiently in Brooklyn, but he struggled to impact the game positively in any other way. Just before halftime, Lyles committed one of the game’s cardinals sins by fouling a 3-point shooter.
5. Monte Morris’ midrange game is silky smooth. His prowess in the in-between zones helps make him effective despite his lack of size.
Morris has one of the best floaters in the game, and he’s got a great pull-up, too. He’s shooting 50 percent on midrange shots, which places him in the 95th percentile among point guards, per Cleaning the Glass.
The Nuggets had plenty of problems against the Nets, but Morris wasn’t one of them. He had 18 points, five assists and no turnovers off the bench.
6. Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly called Jarred Vanderbilt “one of the best rebounders we’ve ever seen” on draft night. Connelly was downright giddy after Denver nabbed the 6-foot-9 power forward at 41st overall in June. It’s easy to see why in the brief flashes when Vanderbilt gets in.
Vanderbilt grabbed seven rebounds during his eight-minute stint in the third quarter. The one-and-doner out of Kentucky has a nose for the ball; that much is apparent. Vanderbilt missed three shots at the rim but impressed nonetheless.
The Nuggets have plenty of guys who get by on skill. Vanderbilt has the chance to be a great dirty work guy.
7. The Nuggets need Will Barton to get back on track. Barton scuffled through a 3-for-9 shooting night in the loss to Detroit on Wednesday and then went 1-for-6 from the field in Brooklyn. Denver got outscored by nine points in the 19 minutes he was on the floor.
Barton is shooting 40.9 percent from the field in 13 games since returning from hip/core surgery. The Nuggets are getting outscored by 3.8 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor in that time; meanwhile, they are outscoring opponents by 10.4 points per 100 possessions when he goes to the bench.
He’ll face a tough test Friday against the 76ers, who have Jimmy Butler and as this week Tobias Harris on the wings.
