The Brooklyn Nets are back at Barclays Center Saturday night to play the LA Clippers for just their second home game in nine-game stretch over 16 days.
They're coming in to the second half of a back-to-back off a thorough 115-104 win over the Washington Wizards, a feel-good victory to shake off a tough week as they begin to adjust to playing without the injured Caris LeVert for a while.
"Because of those circumstances, and you want to confirm that you can still be a good team," said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson. "We love Caris, we miss him, but we've still got some good players in that locker room."
Brooklyn got a big boost Friday with the return of second-year center Jarrett Allen. Allen's defensive impact had been notably missed over the previous two games, and he came through with 16 points and 12 rebounds -- his fourth double-double of the season -- in addition to a team-high plus-13 mark for the night while playing 32 minutes.
"Having Jarrett Allen back, his rim protection just changes the equation," said Atkinson. "I thought we were excellent defending the rim tonight."
With Allen back, the Nets put together their strongest defensive performance in a week, limiting the Wizards to 32 percent shooting in the second half after Washington connected at a 52 percent mark in the first half. And for the full game, the Wizards shot just 17.6 percent (3-for-17) from 3-point range.
"We just kept with our principles, kept with our habits," said Atkinson. "I'm just really pleased with the defensive performance. They got out early, made some tough shots, but we liked where we were with our tactics."
BENCH STRENGTH
The Nets went into Friday night's game ranked fourth in the NBA in bench scoring with 41.9 points per game, and they outscored the Wizards' bench 51-36 in their 11-point win.
A big chunk of that came from Spencer Dinwiddie, who matched his season-high with 25 points and also added eight assists. Dinwiddie has come off the bench in all 16 games this season and has now scored in double-figures in 15 of those. He's in the top 10 in the league in both bench points and assists.
STARTER SHUFFLE
After starting the same five for their first 13 games -- D'Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, Joe Harris, Jared Dudley and Jarrett Allen -- the Nets started their third different starting lineup in three games on Friday night with Russell, Allen Crabbe, Harris, Dudley and Allen. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Ed Davis took turns in the center spot subbing in for Allen in the last two games, while Crabbe stepped into LeVert's starting spot on Wednesday.
SEEKING THREES
The Nets made just 9-of-33 3-pointers Friday night -- 27.3 percent -- and have over their last 10 games shot 32 percent (110-342) from 3-point range. That's after shooting 41.0 percent over their first six games of the season, ranking as high as second in the NBA in 3-point shooting early on.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS
The Clippers have made a living at the line so far, ranking first in the NBA in free throws attempted (29.4) and made (24.2) per game, and second in free throw percentage 82.5. Los Angeles is also third in the league in 3-point shooting percentage (38.5). They get 20.8 percent of their points at the free throw line, the largest margin in the league. Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell are all among the top 20 players in the league in total free throws attempted. The Nets have been putting opponents on the line for 26.3 free throws per game, the No. 26 mark in the league. Forward Tobias Harris leads the Clippers with 20.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while shooting 41.3 percent from 3-point range.