New York Sports Today

New York Sports News Continuously updated

Brooklyn Nets vs. Charlotte Hornets preview: Nets back in action

by

Charlotte Hornets v Detroit Pistons

Two games to go before the All Star break for the Brooklyn Nets as they host the Charlotte Hornets.

Holding things down. The Brooklyn Nets came out of the trade deadline with a Friday night showdown with the Miami Heat. The Nets used a dominant defensive fourth quarter to roll on to a home win.

The opponent tonight is deep in its rebuild. The Charlotte Hornets were getting obliterated by the Detroit Pistons, but they went on a furious second half run to get back into it. They got as close as two points, but ran out of gas down the stretch as the Pistons came away with the win.

Where to follow the game

YES Network on TV. WFAN on radio. Tip after 7:30 PM.

Injuries

No Cam Thomas, Bojan Bogdanovic, Noah Clowney, Maxwell Lewis, or DeAnthony Melton. D’Angelo Russell is questionable with an illness. Brooklyn also has a roster opening now that Ben Simmons has been bought out.

No Grant Williams, Brandon Miller, Josh Okogie, Josh Green, or Tre Mann. Lamelo Ball missed yesterday’s game with left ankle soreness. We’ll see if he’s back

The game

Brooklyn won the first and second meetings. They close out the season series in March.

Good bye, Ben Simmons! On February 8, the Nets announced that they bought out the former All Star and number one pick

Simmons signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Nets are officially out of their star era, and it ended with a whimper. If you told me in 2021 the Nets would have no All Stars on their rosters four years later, I wouldn’t have believed you. Ah well.

So, something funny happened on Saturday night. On February 6, the Hornets traded Mark Williams to the Los Angeles Lakers for Cam Reddish, Dalton Knecht, and some draft picks. Williams was expected to give the Lakers a starting caliber center to pair with Luka Doncic (still feels weird saying that) as LA looks to go on a big run. However, the trade was rescinded on February 8th due to reported issues with Williams’ physical. So when you trade your starting center away but have to bring him back, how do you minimize the potential awkwardness of the situation? The Hornets certainly tried to

Yeesh.

For Cam Johnson, this season has been one of evolution while also a bit of nervousness. CJ’s name was floated in trade rumors throughout the year, but he’s still standing in Brooklyn and will look to continue building on his career year. Johnson spoke about his season with Lucas and said:

“The one thing that I’m balancing is the reads of it all, the reads, the demands of it all, and trying to learn that, watch film, go over it, kind of see what’s developing, see what I’m missing, see where turnovers come from, missed opportunities, and just kind of be critical in that lens and try to push that further. And I’ve enjoyed it a lot. You know, it’s a silver lining to all of this. With everything going on, we’ve been banged up, we’ve had this going on, that going on, rumors going on, but I’ve been trying to do my best to take advantage of the learning opportunity that’s been presented to me.”

Johnson has been the Nets’ best player this year and his growth could lead to some exciting combinations down the line.

Scoring for the Hornets is incredibly hard to come by. On the season, they score a little over 108 points per 100 possessions, third worst in the league. Not to be outdone, the Nets are fourth worst in the league. Whoever can get out in transition and force turnovers will control the flow of this game and find easy buckets for their teammates.

Player to watch: Seth Curry

So what do you do when your potential All Star teammate is out? You make a season high five three pointers! One thing about Curry is he always manages to drift into the right places on offense. And when his teammates make good passes, good things happen

And there you have it! Assuming Ball is out again, Curry should be back in the starting lineup for first year head coach, Charles Lee. Teams are always in the market for good shooting, so Curry will always have a job in basketball if he wants it.

Assuming D’Angelo Russell plays, we’ll see how long he’s able to be out there. DLo had a rough outing on Friday, but that didn’t stop him in the fourth quarter. Russell hit what turned out to be the three that put the Nets ahead for good against Miami. If the game is close late, you can count on Russell to make big plays when the stakes are its highest.

From the Vault

On Sunday afternoon, Hubie Brown called his final game as a broadcaster. It’s been an illustrious career for Hubie and he will leave the game as one of the very best broadcasters of all time. Now what you have here are many, many gems that span across various generations of basketball

More reading: At the Hive and SB Nation NBA