BROOKLYN – Down one point with 9.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Nets needed a clutch basket to ice the win against the Western Conference’s fourth-best team in the Timberwolves. Enter Spencer Dinwiddie.
The Legend of Dinwiddie continues after the point guard beat Taj Gibson off the dribble score hit a jump shot just outside of the paint and seal one of Brooklyn’s biggest results of the season. The 24-year-old is in the midst of breakout fourth season in the NBA, but on Wednesday night, he might have hit one of the biggest shots of his young career -- even if he doesn't necessarily agree.
"I mean the Cleveland one [on Oct. 25] was probably a higher degree of difficult," he said before jokingly adding. "We really just kind of need to get out of these situations honestly. These do or die situations. I'd rather just win the game by like 10."
Yet, it would be short-sighted to focus on Dinwiddie’s heroics – it took an impressive team effort on defense to seal a victory in front of sellout crowd at Barclays Center.
“We did all of the little things,” Kenny Atkinson said in his postgame press conference.
Here are Three Observations
Dinwiddie Gets Back to Scoring
The Nets starting point guard remains one of the NBA’s most efficient playmakers, but he’s been in a bit of scoring slump lately. In his last 10 games, he’s averaged 11.6 points on 38.5 percent shooting to go along with his 6.1 assists per game.
On Wednesday night, Dinwiddie was back to his confident self, finishing with 26 points on a stunning 64 percent shooting. He capped off the first half by hitting a buzzer-beating three, which gave the Nets a five-point lead at the break. Then he proceeded to dominate in the second half, pouring 16 of his final total in the final 24 minutes.
With Caris LeVert sidelined with injury, the Nets needed Dinwiddie to get back to his best. He delivered.
“He hit some big shots,” Atkinson said of Dinwiddie’s performance.
Nets’ Defense Leads Them to Another Win
Brooklyn is 2-0 in 2018 and a lot of that has to do with its impressive turnaround on defense. The Nets rank 26th on the season in points allowed per game at 109.2, but they are one of the top three teams in the league in that respect (96.7) over the last three games, according to teamrankings.com. The team is now 10-0 in games where it allows fewer than 100 points.
Atkinson was pleased with the team’s execution on defense, especially considering its struggles on offensive during the second half.
“Defensively, I think we forced them into the shots we wanted,” he said. “We held them to just 11 three-point attempts”
Minnesota hit just one of those attempts and overall, Brooklyn refused to allow its opponent to get off to a hot start. The Timberwolves are one of the NBA’s best first half teams, but they shot only 39.6 percent after the opening 24 minutes.
“I think we made them [the Nets] aware, this team [the T’wolves] is taking teams out here, you know 16-0, 18-0 [in the first quarter],” Atkinson said. “I think our guys are conscious enough and understood the importance of getting out to a good start tonight, so good job by our first unit.”
While the Timberwolves responded with a strong second half, the Nets defense delivered in a key spot. After Dinwiddie’s go ahead basket in the final seconds of the game, Jimmy Butler had an opportunity to seal a late win for the visitors but DeMarre Carroll leapt up with the small forward to deny a good look at the basket. Butler’s shot clanked on the front rim and the Nets sealed their result.
“It’s a big reason why DeMarre is here. He’s got an elite defensive ability,” Atkinson said. “For a 31-year-old, that was a heck of job. I think a normal contest [on the final play] and Jimmy Butler would have made that shot.”
Okafor Shows Potential in Barclays Center Debut
After a run of nine DNP-CDs, Okafor finally got an opportunity to show what he could do in front of the Brooklyn faithful. True to Atkinson’s word, the center had limited action as he played just 11 minutes. Yet, there were definitely some positives to highlight.
Okafor got his first two and only points of the game off an impressive face-up dribble move into the paint against Gorgui Dieng. The 22-year-old also had an impact on playmaking, displaying a new wrinkle in the Nets’ offensive gameplan.
Okafor got the ball in the left shoulder against Towns and backed up the T’wolves star into the post before noticing Carroll cut into the basket. He dished the ball to the Carroll at the top of the key, who drove to the basket for an emphatic slam. Brooklyn doesn’t run many half-court sets in the post in its offense, which opposing teams have towards their advantage in defending it. As Okafor gets more adjusted, this could be another asset in the team’s arsenal. The former Blue Devils star was happy to finally play in front of the Nets home crowd and was content with his performance.
“I’m happy with the way I performed,” Okafor said. “I’ve tried to work on making the team better and I think some of the stuff I talked about with coach, I was able to achieve – such as screen-setting and communicating, being active and having energy. I was able to do that.”