RealGM

Starters:
** Brooklyn **
James Harden
Kyrie Irving
Patty Mills
Kevin Durant
Nic Claxton

** Pacers **
Duane Washington Jr.
Keifer Sykes
Justin Holiday
Myles Turner
Domantas Sabonis


Injuries:
Joe Harris - OUT (Ankle)
Caris Levert - OUT (Covid)
Malcolm Brogdon - OUT (Covid)
TJ Warren - OUT (Foot; Covid)
Jeremy Lamb - OUT (Covid)
Chris Duarte - OUT (Covid)
TJ McConnel - OUT (Wrist)

The Prodigal son returns...



Lets gooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Kyrie is back and just in time after the nets lost 3 games in a row for the first time this year and just the 2nd time in the big 3 era. My thoughts headed into this game...

-I'd normally bet my daughters college fund on a win tonight as the pacers will be on the 2nd of a back to back on the road (Playing a physical knicks team tonight) and are missing 2 starters and a bunch of key rotation guys. But we just lost 2 games vs mediocure teams on back to backs missing tons of guys to covid, so, im not counting my chickens on this one...

-I can see one of KD/Harden sitting tonight for rest. they have been run into the ground and we have the bucks on Friday.
-I expect nash to replace Bembry with Kyrie in the starting lineup. he is going to overreact to spacing by going super heavy on shooters. if LMA is back i assume he starts too
-I expect a super slow start. Nash has shown an inability to motivated this team even after embarassing losses
-I assume Kyrie will be limited to 15-20 minutes because of"ramp up"
-I dont think we see the young kids unless its a blow out

A "W" would be nice to stop the bleeding. but this team is going to need to take accountability friday vs the bucks who arent a scrub team missing players like the clippers or pacers. There is no reason not to take it to the bucks and win, but id settle for being competitive against any team with a pulse right now.

At any rate, looking forward to watching Kyrie play, if anything the team will be more fun to watch on offense

The starting unit should be Harden/Kyrie/Bembry/Durant/Claxton.

Just for the record....the game is being played on 1/5.

Other than that, I really don't know what to expect. I am hoping Kyrie's return is enough to at least get the ship going back in the right direction. We are way off course now and there are many reasons why. Some that we probably don't even know about.

The Pacers game could mark a new beginning to this strange season.

On the road vs Pacers, we should be good. We are 13-3 on the road.

But then Ky will not play on Friday at home vs MIL. I can see us getting annihilated by the Bucks. It would not be pretty.

Let's see.

I could see the overcorrection in favor of spacing that P is predicting, though I'm not certain that Irving will start. Nash still does want to keep some levee over him, and he's even held out Durant from starting when returning from a long layoff.

I do like the idea of Claxton on the bench, and Aldridge starting. Indy doesn't have the type of bigmen or slashers that he matches up well against.

Our primary task is going to be to crash the glass on both ends. We're going to give up size, but we cannot afford a rebounding discrepancy like Monday, nor the extra possessions and shots that those rebounds afford the opponent.

I'm starting to hate games that look like cakewalks on paper, because we've suffered some nervous close wins and shock losses under similar circumstances this season. Kevin and James are doing a ton, but I need Harden to be more responsible with his passes. And I need Durant to drive the lane, get ALL THE WAY TO THE CUP, seek out contact and force officials to blow the whistle. We all know he's very reliable from midrange, but that's not enough to put real pressure on the opposing defense, no matter how efficient it is.

I don't want to get my hopes up for Kyrie's impact. It's not to late for him to have a change of heart, and decide not to show. If he plays, I'll be relieved more than glad.

I'm crossing fingers for a midseason win over the Pacers, oh what a world.

There's an SBNation article about the rise of Jordan Poole, and the first video snippet reminded me of something someone said here the other day about the Warriors relying on 'flashy plays that won't work in the playoffs.' On the contrary, I think this one shows a nice example of a clever play / clever set that's executed mainly by good coordination: https://streamable.com/o/r1lb4t

Specifically, the way three of their guys deliberately head over to bunch up oddly on the right of the paint, drawing their defenders in to a clump of six bodies. Like a broken play that's only wastes time until they get unentangled.

Au contraire, now you have a dynamic situation in which the three offensive guys can react in a variety of different ways to suddenly gain space or run their defenders together. Like an octopus shooting its arms out, let's say. In this case, the defense played the particular variation pretty well, but in the end, still let one man escape baseline for either the finish or a pass to a wide-open 3pt shooter. Just delicious.

To me the 'clumped octopus formation' is such a clever tool to have in your arsenal, one that doesn't rely on pure athleticism or talent, but on teamwork and coordination. By comparison, it's so annoying to watch the Nets try to space themselves slackadaisically, with little to show for it, then to have one of the big two or three make the predictable move anyway. Even when our guys hustle and pass, it seems like it's usually nothing the defense hasn't seen before, and doesn't put much real pressure on the other team.

Why hasn't Nash come up with nifty plays like this to help everyone outside the big three become more versatile and productive? It doesn't rely on shooting skills either, more like situational awareness.

The Pacers lost to the knicks tonight and there starters all played heavy minutes.

Sabonis played 39 and all starters besides Holiday were well over 32+.

There is no excuse not to stomp them tommorow regardless of how much Kyrie plays

ecuhus1981 wrote:I could see the overcorrection in favor of spacing that P is predicting, though I'm not certain that Irving will start. Nash still does want to keep some levee over him, and he's even held out Durant from starting when returning from a long layoff.

I do like the idea of Claxton on the bench, and Aldridge starting. Indy doesn't have the type of bigmen or slashers that he matches up well against.

Our primary task is going to be to crash the glass on both ends. We're going to give up size, but we cannot afford a rebounding discrepancy like Monday, nor the extra possessions and shots that those rebounds afford the opponent.

I'm starting to hate games that look like cakewalks on paper, because we've suffered some nervous close wins and shock losses under similar circumstances this season. Kevin and James are doing a ton, but I need Harden to be more responsible with his passes. And I need Durant to drive the lane, get ALL THE WAY TO THE CUP, seek out contact and force officials to blow the whistle. We all know he's very reliable from midrange, but that's not enough to put real pressure on the opposing defense, no matter how efficient it is.

I don't want to get my hopes up for Kyrie's impact. It's not to late for him to have a change of heart, and decide not to show. If he plays, I'll be relieved more than glad.

I'm crossing fingers for a midseason win over the Pacers, oh what a world.

I can see Nash using Kyrie off the bench, he does have that track record when guys coming back are on minutes restrictions.

I disagree on LMA/Rebounding. I just dont view rebounding as an issue. dont give up 20+ offensive rebounds sure, but we can get badly outrebounded and still dominate. I also like Nic regardless of matchup. Make them adjust to us not the otherway around. we need a pick and roll threat to open up the threes and claxton will make their slow bigs work to get up and down the floor.

Prokorov wrote:

ecuhus1981 wrote:I could see the overcorrection in favor of spacing that P is predicting, though I'm not certain that Irving will start. Nash still does want to keep some levee over him, and he's even held out Durant from starting when returning from a long layoff.

I do like the idea of Claxton on the bench, and Aldridge starting. Indy doesn't have the type of bigmen or slashers that he matches up well against.

Our primary task is going to be to crash the glass on both ends. We're going to give up size, but we cannot afford a rebounding discrepancy like Monday, nor the extra possessions and shots that those rebounds afford the opponent.

I'm starting to hate games that look like cakewalks on paper, because we've suffered some nervous close wins and shock losses under similar circumstances this season. Kevin and James are doing a ton, but I need Harden to be more responsible with his passes. And I need Durant to drive the lane, get ALL THE WAY TO THE CUP, seek out contact and force officials to blow the whistle. We all know he's very reliable from midrange, but that's not enough to put real pressure on the opposing defense, no matter how efficient it is.

I don't want to get my hopes up for Kyrie's impact. It's not to late for him to have a change of heart, and decide not to show. If he plays, I'll be relieved more than glad.

I'm crossing fingers for a midseason win over the Pacers, oh what a world.

I can see Nash using Kyrie off the bench, he does have that track record when guys coming back are on minutes restrictions.

I disagree on LMA/Rebounding. I just dont view rebounding as an issue. dont give up 20+ offensive rebounds sure, but we can get badly outrebounded and still dominate. I also like Nic regardless of matchup. Make them adjust to us not the otherway around. we need a pick and roll threat to open up the threes and claxton will make their slow bigs work to get up and down the floor.

"Make them adjust to us" is a nice, lofty statement to make. But seriously, what is this "us" of which you speak? How is starting Nic more "us" than starting LaMarcus?

They basically have a timeshare of starting based on matchups. If anything, tinkering with the starting lineup based on who we're facing that day is the most "us" thing we could do.

Half of Indiana is out with Covid. I really need to see something from the Nets tonight because that beating from the Grizzlies was awful.

ecuhus1981 wrote:

Prokorov wrote:

ecuhus1981 wrote:I could see the overcorrection in favor of spacing that P is predicting, though I'm not certain that Irving will start. Nash still does want to keep some levee over him, and he's even held out Durant from starting when returning from a long layoff.

I do like the idea of Claxton on the bench, and Aldridge starting. Indy doesn't have the type of bigmen or slashers that he matches up well against.

Our primary task is going to be to crash the glass on both ends. We're going to give up size, but we cannot afford a rebounding discrepancy like Monday, nor the extra possessions and shots that those rebounds afford the opponent.

I'm starting to hate games that look like cakewalks on paper, because we've suffered some nervous close wins and shock losses under similar circumstances this season. Kevin and James are doing a ton, but I need Harden to be more responsible with his passes. And I need Durant to drive the lane, get ALL THE WAY TO THE CUP, seek out contact and force officials to blow the whistle. We all know he's very reliable from midrange, but that's not enough to put real pressure on the opposing defense, no matter how efficient it is.

I don't want to get my hopes up for Kyrie's impact. It's not to late for him to have a change of heart, and decide not to show. If he plays, I'll be relieved more than glad.

I'm crossing fingers for a midseason win over the Pacers, oh what a world.

I can see Nash using Kyrie off the bench, he does have that track record when guys coming back are on minutes restrictions.

I disagree on LMA/Rebounding. I just dont view rebounding as an issue. dont give up 20+ offensive rebounds sure, but we can get badly outrebounded and still dominate. I also like Nic regardless of matchup. Make them adjust to us not the otherway around. we need a pick and roll threat to open up the threes and claxton will make their slow bigs work to get up and down the floor.

"Make them adjust to us" is a nice, lofty statement to make. But seriously, what is this "us" of which you speak? How is starting Nic more "us" than starting LaMarcus?

They basically have a timeshare of starting based on matchups. If anything, tinkering with the starting lineup based on who we're facing that day is the most "us" thing we could do.

You dont really need to adjust for aldridge. When he is in its just 5 guys standing on the perimeter. its a harden iso, KD midrange after post up or LMA pick and pop. there is no pressure on the defense. there is no movement. there is nothing towards the rim to collapse. there is no switching.

playing LMA to have size to face sabonis is adjusting to them. I'd rather nic be in and them worry about going big and not being able to defend the pick and roll and close out on us.

again its not like we are scrubs with LMA, but its alot easier to defend.

But, most of all i dont like starting games with LMA because its a lock that we are just going to start with like an LMA jumper on 4 of the first 5 or 6 possesions. even if he hits 3 of them, the defense didnt have to move and they are able to get up and down and run out and crash on offense.

I like LMA more coming in at the 6 minute mark once the game has a flow and our guys have been moving to just hit wet jumper after wet jumper.

I'd also like to see more LMA pick and pops behind the 3point line

MrDollarBills wrote:Half of Indiana is out with Covid. I really need to see something from the Nets tonight because that beating from the Grizzlies was awful.

If we dont open up a 10 point lead in the first 4 minutes im going to be very discouraged.

this is about to be a legendary game. Over under kyrie 25 points?

Lamak wrote:this is about to be a legendary game. Over under kyrie 25 points?

From Nash commends it looks like Kyrie will play 24-32 minutes "a big chunk, but not high 30s"

It put it at the under... i can see him going HAM but scoring 22 points in 26 minutes or something. if he plays 32 he could easily eclipse 25. He also may be too amped up and miss long. so ill stick with the under.

excited, Kyrie makes watching more fun. his game is beautiful and a break from our stale offense

Man , Kyrie warming up get me hype up like it’s a playoff game , Lets Go Nets !!!

Duke to start? Why not. Nash is so unpredictable.

We need to destroy them and have Turner defect to our team after Durant talks him into to it.

Jay555 wrote:Duke to start? Why not. Nash is so unpredictable.

I mean, I don't hate it.