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Brooklyn Nets vs. San Antonio Spurs preview: D’Angelo Russell returns

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Oklahoma City Thunder v San Antonio Spurs
Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images

Not So Fun Fact: Cam Thomas and D’Angelo Russell have played one game together, back on January 2, D’Lo’s first game back and CamT’s last one before he was laid low.

The best part of a new week is that you get to start over. In that past week, there might have been a chance you might have made mistakes that you wish to regret, or even feel some emotions that in retrospect you thought were silly. Tonight, this will be the start of Brooklyn’s new week. We will try to forget about the four straight losses they accumulated and instead look forward to the future…. And imagine that it will be very much different!

In this matchup, the Brooklyn Nets will be taking on the San Antonio Spurs, whose season has been hit hard, taken a toll at the worst possible time. Longtime NBA legend and coach Gregg Popovich had to take a leave of absence after suffering a stroke. To make matters worse, Victor Wembanyama is out for the season, which is a big reason why the Spurs are sitting at the 13th spot in the West with a 25-34 record. With these types of losses, the Spurs are forced to look to the offseason to get some more answers, but first, they will have to play games like this.

Where to Watch

Catch the game at 8:30 p.m. ET on the YES Network.

Injury Report

No De’Anthony Melton (torn ACL) or Noah Clowney (ankle.) Tovan Evbuomwan and Kendall Brown will report to Long Island. That means D’Angelo Russell and Dariq Whitehead will be returning from ankle and knee woes. Will D’Lo be on a minutes restrictions?

For San Antonio, Wemby of course is out. Charles Bassey (knee) and Riley Minix (left shoulder) will be out. Stephon Castle (thumb) is listed as questionable.

The Game

Compared to the Spurs, the Nets have the luxury of having their star back in Cam Thomas. I took a look at Twitter comments and came across a lot of negative outlooks on Thomas’ performance against the Blazers. Guys… it’s been months since the man played high quality basketball…. Let him live.

Playing alongside him for the first time since January 2 will be D’Angelo Russell. Russell’s playmaking and pace could match up well with Thomas’ style of play, as both guards can quicken up the pace and finish off a play if they have to. Not only is this the first time since early January that the two have played together. That January 2 game vs. the Bucks was the only time the two have been available to Jordi Fernandez.

Another development to watch is Day’Ron Sharpe. After having a super game vs. OKC with Nic Claxton suspended, Sharpe reverted to Clark Kent against Detroit. Once again it was foul trouble that plagued the 23-year-old. If Sharpe can find a way to provide the same production with Claxton, the Nets’ frontcourt can find great moments.

For the Spurs, everything falls to their backcourt as their frontcourt has been devastated. With the big acquisition of De’Aaron Fox, the Spurs should have had everything they needed to complement Wemby. They already had a brilliant veteran in Chris Paul who can show everyone how to be a professional, a young star who can take over at any minute in Fox, and an explosive rookie in Stephon Castle whose playmaking can help everyone get better. The Nets will need to find a way to slow down this backcourt in order to win the game.

Player to Watch

Stephen Castle is questionable so it’s a risk to designate him the guy to watch, but he’s become increasingly important to the Spurs. On Monday night, he dropped 32 points on the Thunder in a losing effort but as Pounding the Rock, our sister site noted, there is a trend line here.

Stephon Castle led the squad with 32 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Even though he’s still coming off the bench, Steph played 32 minutes like a star in the making. Now that the Spurs are back home, it will be interesting to see if he gets inserted back in the starting lineup with Chris Paul’s minutes decreasing.

You can see why…

The 6’6” UConn product could be in the conversation not just for Rookie of the Year, but Sixth Man too. He’s averaging 13.2 points and 3.5 assists in 25 minutes a game. And he’s done it while starting only half the Spurs games, 29 out of 58. His 3-point shooting is still a work in progress — he’s hit on 28.4% of his attempts, but he’s only 20 years old. He and Wemby should have a long career together.

From the Vault

The high water mark for the Nets franchise in the NBA wasn’t Kevin Durant’s foot on the line in Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference semi-finals. Nope. It was Game 5 of the 2003 NBA Finals when with the series tied 2-2, the Spurs nudged the Nets, 93-83. The Spurs finished the job the next game, winning the series 4-2 with Tim Duncan winning the MVP and Stephen Jackson who the Nets had declined to re-sign, hitting a barrage of threes.

Years later, when the two were teammates, Duncan asked Richard Jefferson if he thought the Nets had a shot. RJ, who had 19 points in Game 5, has recounted that conversation on several occasions.

“Years later when I played with Tim Duncan, Tim asked me, ‘What did you think of your chances of beating us in the Finals?’ I was like, ‘I thought our chances were really, really good.’ I asked him, ‘What’d you think your chances were?’ He said, ‘I thought it was about 50-50 going into that series.’ Tim knew that they had to play really, really well to beat us,”

ICYMI, or weren’t born yet, here’s how it went down.

More reading: Pounding the Rock and SBNation NBA.