Upcoming Games
Thursday at Cavaliers in Paris: Coverage on YES & the YES App begins at 1:30 p.m.
Monday vs Heat: Coverage on YES & the YES App begins at 7:00 p.m.
Tipping Off
The Paris Game 2024 will be the eighth appearance for the Nets as part of the NBA’s Global Games program. The franchise has previously played three times in London, twice in Tokyo and twice in Mexico City. It’s going to be the Association’s third-ever regular season game in Paris, although the Nets did face Miami there in an October 2008 exhibition. A rematch from the first game of the season when Cleveland won at Barclays Center by a single point, the Nets will take the floor at Accor Arena against a Cavaliers team that has gone 20-12 since Nov. 1. Monday’s clash will be the fourth and final meeting of the year between the Nets and Heat; Brooklyn holds a 2-1 edge in the season series.
Nets Notes
With 42 points against Portland on Sunday, Mikal Bridges delivered his sixth career 40-point game, all of which have occurred in a Nets uniform. Two days earlier, Dennis Smith Jr. delivered tremendous balance versus the Thunder when he became the first player in NBA history to enter a game off the bench and tally 13 points, 12 rebounds, six offensive rebounds, seven assists and two steals without committing any turnovers. He also became just the second player to ever put up those numbers as a reserve or as a starter while playing fewer than 30 minutes, joining two-time MVP Nikola Jokić. Cam Johnson has hit at least three shots from three-point range in each of his last four games. Lonnie Walker IV has totaled close to 12 minutes of action over two games since returning from the left hamstring strain that forced him to miss all of December and Brooklyn’s first two games of January. Prior to action against the Trail Blazers, Jacque Vaughn announced that the contracts of Trendon Watford and Harry Giles III, two former Blazers, have been guaranteed for the rest of the season. After leaving Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter, Day’Ron Sharpe has been diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee and will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks
Know The Foes
Averaging 27.2 PPG, Donovan Mitchell is the leading scorer for the Cavaliers, who at 21-15 are one of five Eastern Conference teams with that exact record ranging from fourth-place Orlando through the eighth-place Cavs. Darius Garland is behind Mitchell with 20.7 PPG followed by ex-Net Caris LeVert at 16.2 PPG. Jarrett Allen, another former Net, is averaging 14.8 PPG and 9.9 RPG. Miami’s Tyler Herro has scored 22.6 PPG while shooting 42.7 percent from three-point range in 10 games since returning from a sprained right ankle that caused him to miss a little more than one month. Along with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid, who own three MVP Awards between them, Bam Adebayo is one of three Eastern Conference players averaging at least 22.0 PPG and 10.3 RPG. The Heat sit fifth in the East, although Jimmy Butler has missed the last four games with a sprained toe on his right foot following a four-game absence in late December due to a left calf strain.
A Dazzling Fact
Nic Claxton was grabbing rebounds at a rare rate during the Nets’ visit to the Rockets last Wednesday. The game was just nine minutes and 19 seconds old when Claxton hauled in his 10th board, making him only the fourth NBA player since the start of the 2020-21 season to grab 10 rebounds within the first 9:19 of a game, placing him alongside Jokić, ex-Net Andre Drummond and Steven Adams. Claxton is also the third Net to accomplish the feat since play-by-play tracking began in 1996-97, joining Drummond and Jamie Feick; Drummond did it March 16, 2022 against Dallas, while Feick did so versus Detroit on Jan. 20, 2000. Drummond and Feick were playing home games, so Claxton is the only player over this span to pull off the feat on the road. Stay with YES and the YES App to keep watching the Clax Attack!
