The Nets lost their fourth straight, dropping to 2-7 as their rebounding issues continue.
In the NBA G-League, it’s not about wins and losses, it’s about development and potential. You have to keep telling yourself that as the losses pile up. That was abundantly clear on Saturday night when the Long Island Nets faced off with the Greensboro Swarm for the second night in a row.
Long Island, who came into this game having lost their past three in a row, looked to get back on track against Greensboro who won their past six games, including one Friday night in NC. Unfortunately, those two trends would continue Saturday as Long Island would not fare any better against Greensboro, dropping their fourth game in a row, 131-119.
Rebounding continued to be an issue for Long Island, as they were out-rebounded 47-30. This is in large part due to how the Long Island team is set up. They are a very wing-heavy team with only one player taller than 6’9” and are at a disadvantage when it comes to size to just about every team they match up against.
Long Island also struggled from deep in this game, only connecting on 14 of their 40 shot attempts from beyond the arc, (35%). AJ Lawson hit two of his seven shot attempts from beyond the arc, while Killian Hayes only connected on one of his five shot attempts.
It wasn’t all bad, though, as Long Island had three players top 20 points on the night: Tyson Etienne, A.J. Lawson, and Amari Bailey
The first quarter opened with Greensboro going on a quick 8-0 run. Long Island missed a lot of shots, which led to Greensboro being able to separate themselves from the Nets quickly. Ultimately, they closed the gap before halftime and only trailed 66-65 at the half after being down close to 20 at one point.
Unfortunately, Long Island didn’t fare any better in the third quarter, as Greensboro began to once again separate themselves, taking the 97-88 lead into the fourth. The fourth was all Greensboro, as they put the game out of reach for Long Island, securing themselves the 12-point victory off of foul shots and three-pointers.
Tyson Etienne, who has had a fairly quiet start, led the team in scoring with 29. Etienne had the hot hand from deep tonight, hitting six of his 10 shots from beyond the arc.
After an uncharacteristic quiet night Friday, AJ Lawson got back on track, finishing with 26 points, second only to Etienne. However, he did continue to struggle from deep, only hitting two of his seven shots from beyond the arc. Lawson, the 6’6” Canadian, is hitting only 26.3% of his shots from deep. He did go 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, which helped Long Island close the gap.
Amari Bailey also got back into the swing of things, finishing third on the team in scoring with 22 points off the bench. Bailey has become one of the NBA G-league’s best bench players. In nine games, none starts, the 20-year-old is averaging 15.4 points a game on 45/36/76 shooting splits. Bailey also picked up seven rebounds and nine assists, leading the team in both.
Hayes finished with 15 points, but only three assists. He shot 6-of-12 overall and had two steals, his averaged for the season. Kendall Brown, the 6’7” shooting guard who played for the Pacers last season had another solid game scoring with 15 points but fouled out.
Patrick Gardner, Long Island’s biggest player at 6’11”, had another quiet night. He finished with only two points and only picked up two rebounds. For a team with a lot of size disadvantages, they have to get their big guy rolling if they hope to be more of a force under the basket. Unfortunately, tonight was just not his night.
Long Island also was down five players. All three of their two-way players — Tyrese Martin, Jacky Cui and Jaylen Martin — were with with Brooklyn as was Dariq Whitehead who’s spent most of the season so far with Long Island. In addition, Mark Armstrong, the former Villanova point guard who’s had a couple of big games recently, was out with an injury.
Next Up
After a six-game road trip, the Long Island Nets finally come home for their next game against the Delaware Blue Coats on Wednesday, December 4th. This will be the first of four straight home games for Long Island, and it could not have come at a better time. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. ET and can be watched on ESPN+ and the YES app.