The Brooklyn Nets are Motown-bound on their first back-to-back of the season after Friday night’s 123-116 win over the Houston Rockets. They’ll tip off against the Detroit Pistons at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night.
The Nets were able to bring the right vibe to the road, snapping a two-game skid that had left them at 1-3 going into Friday night’s game. The mental game, said Kyrie Irving, is the key to the challenge.
“First is just carrying your mind there,” said Irving of the back-to-back challenge. “That’s the biggest thing. I think it’s less than 24 hours when we play Detroit. They’re good at home. No matter what they’re going to grind it out obviously with the big man in the middle and D Rose coming off the bench and being very aggressive. He’s playing very well this season. Get on the plane, do as much as you can to recover, try to feel as best you can, and understand that tomorrow’s more of a mentality game and how you start rather than worrying about the shots and worrying about how you feel. Just being there for your guys and knowing that it’s going to be a tough game regardless just trying to get yourself going again. Just part of being a professional.”
PRINCE SCORES 27 VS. ROCKETS
Taurean Prince led Brooklyn with 27 points against Houston on Friday night, posting his second double-double of the first five games by grabbing 12 rebounds as well.
“He’s kind of an x-factor for us,” said Kenny Atkinson. “I thought he came out tonight with a ton of energy. Made shots. Looked great. Driving the ball to the rim. Defensively he was on Harden a ton. I think that helped us. I think us mixing it up on James helped; we had two different bodies on him. I think he’s an x-factor. We need him to play well for us to be good.”
Prince had 13 points in the first quarter, making 3-of-4 3-point attempts in the quarter. With Houston within five points late in the fourth quarter, Prince knocked down a clutch three with two minutes remaining to push Brooklyn’s lead back up to eight.
The fourth-year pro was acquired over the summer from Atlanta and signed a contract extension with the Nets just before the season started. He’s stepped right into Brooklyn’s starting lineup and a key role.
“His spirit. He’s just a pleasant person. He always has a smile,” said Atkinson. “Haven’t seen any negative vibes. Usually when you’re around guys a fair amount you see some negative stuff. He’s just got a great spirit. But there’s an edge and a toughness. Probably not the easiest background coming up. He’s got a real edge to him and it shows in his physicality. Shows how he comptes. And then last thing, his skill level’s pretty darn high. He’s not just a catch and shoot guy. Can make plays off the dribble. Like we said before, he’s going to be a big key for us this year.”
TEMPLE KEYS RALLIES
Veteran swingman Garrett Temple is another offseason acquisition who has filled a significant role, and he came through with clutch shots against the Rockets on Friday.
“He’s always solid,” said Kyrie Irving. “That’s the type of player he is. Came out, he was very aggressive, came out shooting the shots that he’s been shooting the last few games. Really getting in a rhythm and taking what the defense gave him, but also competing on the defensive end like he always does. We need that from him and he’ll continue to give it to us. We know who Garrett Temple is in this league and what he does and what he brings.”
Temple had a season-high 16 points, making 4-of-6 3-pointers. With the Nets in the process of erasing a 15-point second-quarter deficit, Temple knocked down two 3-pointers and followed with a transition finish that brought the Nets within a point on the way to a halftime lead.
Another 3-pointer and finish at the rim off a backdoor cut helped push the Nets to a 15-point lead late in the third quarter. And center Jarrett Allen emphasized Temple’s steadiness on the defensive end.
“He brought a sense of leadership, telling us where we need to be, especially against a team that runs an offense like that,” said Allen. “He helped me a lot on the defensive end. Scoring-wise and spotting up and knocking it down, brought a lot that we needed.”
KEYS AGAINST THREES
Brooklyn’s 3-point defense had been a mixed bag through four games — limiting the attempts the way Kenny Atkinson likes, but giving up an uncomfortably high percentage of makes. That represented a danger zone against the high-scoring Rockets, who shoot from deep at the league’s highest rate. But it was a challenge the Nets met.
“Obviously it was a big part of our game plan, limiting the threes,” said Atkinson. “But I thought we did a good job protecting the rim too. I’m not sure what the rim numbers looked like, how many free throws, and did a decent job keeping them off the free throw line. Kind of our three keys for winning this game. We did a pretty good job.”
The Rockets got up 48 3-pointers, but made just 12, 25 percent. And league scoring leader James Harden was just 2-for-16 beyond the arc.
“Just sticking to our principles, understanding what we had in place for our game plan, who we wanted shooting the basketball, making sure our rotations were right even though they got some open corner threes,” said Kyrie Irving. “Just try to make it as tough as we could on them.”
NO. 1 IN THREES
After shooting 59.4 percent (19-for-32) from 3-point range against Houston on Friday night, the Nets lead the NBA in shooting 41.9 percent from deep.
ABOUT THE PISTONS
The Pistons fell to 2-4 with Friday night’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. Center Andre Drummond had 25 points and 24 rebounds. He leads the NBA with 18.4 rebounds per game and averages 21.7 points. But despite Drummond’s massive rebounding numbers, the Pistons are 26th as a team with 42.6 rebounds per game. So Drummond is single-handedly responsible for more than 40 percent of Detroit’s rebounding.
The Pistons are third in the league in field goal percentage (47.9) and sixth in 3-point percentage (38.0), with Luke Kennard shooting 43.6 percent on 6.5 attempts per game.
Former MVP Derrick Rose is averaging 20.8 points per game while coming off the bench in all six games.
Blake Griffin has missed the first six games with left knee and hamstring soreness, while guard Reggie Jackson missed the last four games with lower back tightness.