Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot will be sticking around after a brief hiatus. Luwawu-Cabarrot’s second 10-day contract expired after Monday’s game against Phoenix, a win in which he scored 13 points and made 3-of-4 3-pointers. The Nets announced Friday they had signed the 6-foot-7 swingman to a multi-year contract before heading off to visit the Toronto Raptors for a Saturday night game.
Luwawu-Cabarrot began the season with Brooklyn on a two-way contract. A first-round draft pick in 2016, he had played for Philadelphia, Oklahoma City and Chicago, and went to training camp with Cleveland this season. After playing in two of Brooklyn’s first 24 games while playing regularly for Long Island in the G League, Luwawu-Cabarrot has played in all but two of the Nets’ last 25 games, dating back to Dec. 14.
He’s averaging 5.2 points in 15.3 minutes per game while shooting 43.1 percent from 3-point range.
“I was really thrilled,” said Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. “I sent him a text yesterday, “tu, l’as merite bien.’ You earned it. You really earned it. He texted me back in French, which was nice, ‘I appreciate you coach.’ So we had a nice exchange. And it adds to our international players, and I like that. He fits the style. We play an international style and he fits it. And he earned it. And not just you say he shot it well. I think what the coaches are most impressed with is the question with him is he going to defend at this level? Is he going to give you the grit at this level? He did, so that was just consensus with Sean (Marks), the front office, coaches, we really wanted to go forward with this guy.”
TEMPLE ON TARGET
After Wednesday’s 16-point game against Golden State, Garrett Temple is averaging 10.4 points over Brooklyn’s last eight games, shooting 35.4 percent from 3-point range and 43.0 percent overall. That follows a 12-game Brooklyn stretch in which Temple moved in and out of the lineup due to a knee contusion, missing five games and shooting 25.3 percent in the seven he played.
Since putting the knee issue behind him, Temple did take an elbow from DeAndre Jordan that left him with 16 stitches and a missing eyebrow, but hasn’t felt any ill effects from that.
“I think maybe some of it was the knee, some of it was just thinking about the knee, and just getting in a funk,” said Temple of that shooting slump. “But I do feel really good now. My knee feels real good now and like I said, DJ tried to knock my eye out, but it’s still in there, so yeah, feeling good.”
Temple’s return to health and offensive uptick came shortly after Caris LeVert and Kyrie Irving returned to the lineup as well, though Irving has missed the last two games. In their absence, he had taken on a larger role, often serving as the lead ball-handler with Brooklyn’s second unit. When the Nets have two healthy point guards, as they do now with LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie, Temple can slide back into the role Brooklyn originally envisioned for him as a summer free agent signing.
“Maybe so. My role has changed a lot this season, and that’s part of what I think I bring to a team, being able to be versatile,” said Temple. “I think that does have something to do with it. The guard setup is pretty in-line. Unfortunately, Ky went out, but really know where your minutes are going to come from, know what you’re gonna do, so that it helps with preparation and focus.”
NO TRAVEL FOR IRVING
Kenny Atkinson said guard Kyrie Irving will not be on the two-game road trip that takes the Nets to Indiana on Monday as well. After that, the Nets have one game — Wednesday against the Raptors — before the All-Star break, after which they return to action on Thursday, Feb. 20 against Philadelphia.
Irving suffered a knee sprain against the Wizards on Feb. 1.
“We obviously miss him on the floor,” said DeAndre Jordan. “He’s our floor general. He’s in practice and film sessions and obviously trying to hurry up and get back to 100 percent healthy where we need him but he’s still here and talking to guys and pointing out small different details that we need to do to get better as a team to close to a full 48 minutes as possible.”
RECAPPING THE NUMBERS VS. WARRIORS
The Nets put up some big numbers in their 119-88 win over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Here’s a quick recap of some of the superlatives:
- Caris LeVert +43 highest plus/minus for a Net over last 20 seasons
- Warriors’ 12.8 3-point shooting percentage lowest by a Net opponent (min. 30 attempts) in franchise history
- Ninth 40-point victory in franchise history and largest margin of victory since Feb. 7, 2009
- 41-point margin the largest in Barclays Center history
- Nets averaging 122.6 points over last five games
ABOUT THE RAPTORS
This is the third meeting of the season between the Nets and Raptors. The defending champion Raptors won 110-102 in Toronto on Dec. 14 and 121-102 in Brooklyn on Jan. 4. They’ll play again next Wednesday in Brooklyn. Toronto is 37-14 and in second place in the Eastern Conference going into Friday night’s game at Indiana, having won its last 12 games.
“A tough matchup,” said Kenny Atkinson. “Great challenge. I feel like we’re playing better, they’re on a back-to-back, that gives us a little more confidence. But I’ve said it since the beginning of the year, I think they’re a championship-contending team. I said it when we played them in the exhibition (season). They’re really good. And they’re playing without (Marc) Gasol, which makes it even more impressive. It’s a real credit to them.”
The Raptors are second in the NBA in defensive rating (104.6) and fourth in net rating (6.6). They’re second in the league in opponent field goal percentage (42.8) and third in opponent effective field goal percentage (50.2). The Raptors are second in the league in steals (8.8), eighth in assists (25.7) and seventh in free throw percentage (79.6).
Toronto is fifth in the NBA in 3-pointers made per game (13.5), seventh in 3-pointers attempted (36.2), third in 3-point percentage (37.4) and gets 36.1 percent of its points on 3-pointers, the fourth-highest mark in the league.
Fourth-year forward Pascal Siakam leads the Raptors with 23.7 points and averages 7.7 rebounds and guard Kyle Lowry averages 19.7 points and 7.3 assists. Both have been selected to play in the upcoming NBA All-Star Game. Guard Fred VanVleet averages 17.6 points and 7.0 assists and shoots 39.6 percent from 3-point range.