The Brooklyn Nets are on the road to close out 2024. First stop, Orlando.
Back on the road. The Brooklyn Nets wrapped up the home portion of their 2024 schedule with a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The Nets begin a three game road trip tonight that will carry them into the New Year.
The opponent today is swamped by injuries, but they’re still fighting. When we look at the Orlando Magic’s injury report, we’ll see a lot of star power there. They took on the New York Knicks on Friday night and ran out of steam after halftime as the Knicks won comfortably.
Where to follow the game
YES Network on TV. WFAN on radio. Daytime affair so we’re getting started after 3:00 p.m. ET
Injuries
Bojan Bogdanovic, Trendon Watford, and Ziaire Williams are out. Ben Simmons missed Friday’s game as the second half of a back-to-back. He should be back today. Same for Cam Johnson who missed the game with a hip injury. AND ….Cam Thomas is listed as probable after missing 13 straight.
Franz Wagner, Mo Wagner, and Paolo Banchero are out.
The game
Orlando won games one, two, and three. This is the last meeting between the two teams this season.
The NBA season is long, and every club gets tested. You learn about yourself in this process and hope that the lessons guide you into a successful future. At Orlando Magic Daily, Philip Rossman-Reich wrote about the team’s resilience and said:
The Magic are down a lot of players and they feel the pressure that comes with that. They feel the margin for error when they make mistakes.
But they also see the resolve they have to overcome them. They see how their effort and intensity makes up for a lot of what they are missing. They see how their defense can still win and give them a chance if they stick with it.
These games now will serve as valuable lessons for the group come postseason time.
The frontcourt for Orlando has been wrecked by injuries, but Goga Bitadze has held things down as best as he can. He’s grabbed at least nine rebounds in nine straight games and has tried to anchor the Magic’s interior. Nic Claxton will look to make things hard on Bitadze inside and try to cash in on close shot attempts on offense. They need him to hit on those three footers if they want to make Orlando respect them on the inside.
Having Cam Johnson back should open up the offense. CJ is taking on new challenges in the offense, and the results are starting to show. Lucas went in depth about it on Friday, and you should check it out! Even in a season where the focus is on the future, there’s a lot to watch and observe in the present.
Player to watch: Jalen Suggs
When you’re down options one and two on offense, those shots have to go somewhere. For the Magic, they’ve gone to Suggs. Since December 8th, he’s averaged 21 points on 42/30/88 shooting splits. It’s a lot of heavy lifting for Suggs, and after halftime on Friday he only went 3-6 from the field (with no three pointers made) after going 7-of-14 with four threes. It’s a lot to ask of Suggs, but it’s what he’ll have to do until reinforcements arrive.
Cam Thomas is back, and we’ll see how many minutes he plays tonight. Hamstring injuries are always tricky and you never know you’re back to normal until you’re out there. The Nets have historically been conservative with players coming back from injury, so it would be surprising if he played a heavy amount of minutes. At the very least, the Nets get a guard that can create his own shot and give Cam Johnson another good scorer alongside him. The big number for him and the Nets. When CT went down, Brooklyn had the eighth best offense in the NBA. Since then? They’re 29th.
From the Vault
On Friday afternoon, it was announced that broadcaster Greg Gumbel passed away at the age of 78. Let’s take it back to 1997 and relive two of his best NBA calls alongside fellow icons Bill Walton and Steve “Snapper” Jones!
More reading: Orlando Magic Daily and SB Nation NBA
- Brooklyn Nets Game Notes – Brooklyn Nets
- Orlando Magic Game Notes – Orlando Magic
- Scuffling Magic seek better outcome, season sweep of Nets – Larry Fleisher – NBA
- Orlando faces conference rival Brooklyn – AP
- Nets offense to get boost with expected return of Cam Thomas – Brian Lewis – New York Post
- Shake Milton has shot to be another point guard solution for Nets – Brian Lewis – New York Post
- Nets’ Cam Thomas set to return from extended injury absence vs. Magic – Erik Slater – Clutch Points