3 Takeaways from the Brooklyn Nets’ Latest Play-in Teasing Win over Hornets

When you’re twice as close to the play-in as you are to a top-3 pick, and you’ve won five of six, well, things have changed.

As the trade deadline debris began to dissipate Friday night, we were treated to the sight of another gritty, thrilling, and (maybe?) counterproductive Brooklyn Nets win. Monday evening, with the dust completely settled despite the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets kicking some more up over the weekend, we got to see the team get another one … much easier.

While the scoreboard advertised a rather close contest, the Nets inflated a sizable lead early before coasting to a win vs the Hornets. It’s a style of victory that’s evaded the team for much of the year. While fans might not be used to it, the players were ready and eager, to deliver it. Here’s what we learned in the process.

Watford is a Real Difference-Maker off the Bench

Swiss Army Knives rarely chip and shatter, even with some inconsistent usage. The one we have in Brooklyn is no different.

It took Trendon Watford some time to find his rhythm after returning from his second multi-game absence this year. But against the Miami Heat, when he served as an impromptu ball-handler while the team helped Ben Simmons pack his bags, the 24-year-old do-it-all forward danced his way to a 13/3/4 game including a steal and block.

Tonight, he kept the party going. Not only did he turn in another solid run from a box score perspective, finishing with 13/4/2 while shooting 4-of-8 from the field, but he also illustrated some development in his game that promises to deliver him more minutes going forward.

Watford’s first make of the night came on a triple he stepped into after trailing a fast break. Forcing the defense to respect his presence from deep and then leveraging it to support his teammates, Watford later pumped on a hard closeout before dishing the rock. It eventually found its way to an open Ziaire Williams beyond the arc. He splashed it in front of the Charlotte defense still a step behind.

“I’ve always had the ball in my hands a lot,” Watford said postgame. “When I was young, my pops wouldn’t let a coach put me in the post just because I was the biggest guy on the team. I’ve been having the ball in my hand a lot. Last year, I got a lot of reps at the one. It was my first time getting a lot of reps at the one in the league. I got comfortable with it. I enjoy being out there on the floor, period. Whether it’s at the one or the five or the three or whatever it is, I just enjoy being out there. Just trying to take advantage of it.”

Oh yeah, about two plays after that, Watford canned another one from the corner, putting the Nets up by what was their largest margin of the game at the time. He finished 3-of-5 from downtown tonight.

In a game where Brooklyn’s bench dominating Charlotte’s lifted the team to a win, Watford was the initial catalyst. After he checked in, the Nets went on a 17-10 run in the first which catapulted Brooklyn into a lead they never relinquished. He also finished as a team-best and career-high +26 for the game.

“It’s coming back,” Watford told Meghan Triplett postgame. “It feels good to get in rhythm and most importantly get a win in front of the home crowd.”

Between Cam Johnson’s nuclear year from three, impressive two-way player contributions, D’Angelo Russell’s return and fake ones from Simmons, it was probably easy to forget about the injured Watford, especially in a rebuilding year. Well, I’m here to say you shouldn’t have.

Team Basketball is In

The Nets have had five or more guys reach double figures in all but four games since exactly a month ago on January 10th. Tonight, they had six, including two players off the bench in Watford and Day’Ron Sharpe.

The latter got some help from the other team at the end. Shoutout to now 15-year pro Taj Gibson, who made his league debut when Sharpe was just seven.

Brooklyn’s offense operated freely, but it didn’t do so easily, as the Nets posted 40/29 splits for the night. Doing that and still winning paints a picture of a group of guys lifting each other through a tough shooting night rather than a collective brick fest. No matter how we as fans feel about the tank, we should all be able to get behind that: a team looking to rebuild its culture.

Offensive democracy is common amongst teams lacking a “go to guy.” Perhaps that changes when Cam Thomas comes back. Perhaps there’s a common ground the team can find between CT’s dynamic isolation scoring and their selflessness at both ends. We’ll have to wait and see, but for now, “team basketball” is very much in.

The Nets are Bad…Not Horrendous

The standings tell you the Brooklyn Nets are among the NBA’s worst teams. While that may be true, they’re not the worst, for better…or worse.

Brooklyn’s recent home loss to the Washington Wizards offers an immediate counterargument to this notion, but our evidence includes the fact that the Nets have now smoked Charlotte twice in two weeks. They swept Houston and snuck one out from under Miami’s nose too. Their defense has been the league’s best in almost every metric over that stretch as well.

No matter how you cut it up, things like that simply do not happen to someone who’s truly the runt of the litter.

After tonight, the Nets sit just one game away from cashing the “over” on the win total most sportsbooks projected for them to start the season — and everyone knows it.

“They doubted us,” Watford said. “Now, with one more game left before the break, we already passed what they had us at. So, shout out to the experts.”

Some of this collective punch back be attributed to Brooklyn pulling Cam Johnson off the shelves amid trade season. Jordi Fernández and the competitive nature he’s instilled deserves a nod as well. More recently, it’s been Nic Claxton looking more like his old self, anchoring that aforementioned defense better late than never.

Regardless, with about a third of the season — 29 games — left to go, I’ll go out on a limb and say they’ll get there.

Let me be clear, if you’re in the basement — you’re in the basement. It’s not a “flex” to be the one sitting closest to the staircase that’ll take you up. Regardless, the Nets being superior to the other teams in position to Capture the Flagg is a truth that’s been staring us in the face for too many days. We can’t keep looking away from it even as tank commanders try to obstruct our view like Yoren did to Arya Stark in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season one. (I don’t care if that show ended years ago, you’ll get no spoilers from me.)