Brooklyn Nets vs. Portland Trailblazers preview: Late night tank game

Brooklyn Nets v Portland Trail Blazers — Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images

Brooklyn Nets have lost five in row and now face the Portland Trail Blazers in a race to the bottom

The Brooklyn Nets’ 112-11 loss to the Utah Jazz was a tough one. Rookie Isaiah Collier took matters into his own hands and delivered with the game of his life, including the layup that would seal the deal for the Jazz. But don’t worry Nets fans. While we did lose, we didn’t REALLY lose. The ‘T’ word is still in full effect and things moved in a positive direction for Cooper Flagg or those boys down in Jersey as a result of the loss. The Nets moved from having the seventh best shot at the overall No. 1 pick in the May 12 lottery to sixth.

Tonight is another important date in the Nets tank, er, rebuild. They face the Portland Trail Blazers who are a half-game behind the Nets in that seventh spot.

Where To Watch

Catch the action at 10:00 p.m. ET on the YES Network and NBA League Pass.

Injuries

No Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain), Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot injury recovery), Maxwell Lewis (left tibia fracture), DeAnthony Melton (left knee ACL tear), or Trendon Watford (left hamstring strain) for the Nets. Ben Simmons (lower back, left knee soreness), Cam Johnson (right ankle), D’Angelo Russell (right shin contusion), Nic Claxton (right hamstring tightness) are questionable.

For the Trail Blazers, Jerami Grant (face) and Matisse Thybulle (ankle) will be out. Robert Williams III and Deni Avdija are questionable. Williams may also be on the trade block.

The Game

This will be the first matchup between the two teams this season.

With both teams having similar records, the Trail Blazers have a ton of young talent that have the potential to take advantage of the Nets, especially while they remain undermanned.

The explosive backcourt in Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe have been one of the few positive lights in Portland’s season thus far. Both averaging 18 points a game, Simons’s scoring ability and Sharpe’s elite athleticism allow them to be a dynamic duo. The scoring these two will provide will be key going against Brooklyn, who have been just averaging 103 PPG in their last 10 games.

If Brooklyn wants to go into the winning column, they simply just have to turn it up offensively. Obviously it’s tough for them without any of their key players, but things can still go their way with the players they may have available.

Everything depends on who winds up available. The four players who are questionable provided most of the Nets offense. Otherwise, Tosan Evbuomwan, Tyrese Martin and Ziaire Williams will likely the players who can provide scoring in catch and shoot opportunities and off the bounce. With Portland allowing teams to shoot 47% from the field against them this season, scoring will hopefully not be a problem going into the game.

Player to Watch

Two years ago, there were a number of Nets fans who thought the team would be best served by the Nets trading Mikal Bridges for the rights to the Trail Blazers pick, the No. 3 overall in the Draft, so they could take Scott Henderson who many thought would wind up as a transformative player. It was of course one of a multitude of offers Sean Marks & co. got for Bridges, all of which paled with what the Nets eventually got from the team across the river.

How’s Scoot doing? Not so well. A year and a half into his career, Henderson is on what Blazers’ Edge writer Connor Bergin a roller-coaster, citing his recent games.

During Portland’s 118-115 loss against the Detroit Pistons, Henderson produced zero points (on 0-2 shooting), three assists and four turnovers in 19 minutes. He bounced back from that tough performance to put up more respectable stats against New Orleans Wednesday and then play arguably Portland’s best game against Dallas 24 hours later. In 26 minutes, Scoot put up 20 points and four assists while playing with an aggression that helped him go 12-12 from the free throw line. Then the rollercoaster ride took another sharp dip against Miami Saturday, as he struggled to find his shot — going 1-6 from the field and 1-4 from the stripe — finishing with three points, three assists and two turnovers.

For the season, the 20-year-old has not improved over his rookie year, averaging 10.9 points and 5.0 assists on 40/30/77 shooting splits. His head coach, Chauncey Billups, is not worried. “It’s one of the most impressive things about Scoot,” said Billups recently. “If you’re around him every day you never know if he’s playing good or if he’s struggling or if he feels under pressure. You never know anything. He’s always got this great smile and he’s always very positive.”

From the Vault

Twenty years ago, the Nets and Blazers played what was one of the worst games in NBA history, a 64-60 Nets win over the Blazers at the Meadowlands. The two teams combined for 44 field goals, the fewest in regular season history. Here’s the, um, highlights.