On the same night the Brooklyn Nets moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference, they extended their franchise record for players used in a single season to 27 with Mike James making his first appearance after being signed to a 10-day contract earlier in the day. While James did jump right in to play 21 minutes, he didn’t crack the starting lineup, so Brooklyn’s franchise record of 32 different starting lineups this season stood still.
The kind of player churn isn’t ideally suited to winning, but these Nets — with Kevin Durant having played just 24 of 60 games, with James Harden having played four minutes of one game over Brooklyn’s last 12 — are now 40-20 with 12 games remaining in this shortened season. That’s a winning percentage of .667, which would be the highest in the franchise’s history, surpassing the .634 winning percentage of the 52-30 team that went to the NBA Finals in 2001-02.
“Just give credit to just figuring things out on the fly with this team,” said Kyrie Irving. “Just being very mature in our approach to the game and living with the results. Like I said, we have talent, but we’ve just been able to remain flexible throughout some of the circumstances that we’ve been faced with. With that in addition to just going out there and really trusting each other, just getting this new group together and trusting what we have going on here. There’s a lot of outside noise in terms of the way we put this team together. It’s inevitable that we all hear it, but what matters is how we handle our relationships within the locker room and then go out and put on a good performances.”
With all the roster changes, injuries, and starting lineups, there’s little daylight in differentiating between starters and reserves. Jeff Green and Bruce Brown have both played 56 games and started 32. The Nets have started seven different players at center, if you include the one game where they essentially started five guards.
So it’s interesting to look at the “second unit’ groups that typically start the second quarter and often consist of a mix of starters and reserves. Of course, a player who’s a reserve on Tuesday could be a starter on Wednesday, so those lineups have varied widely throughout the season. But the second quarter has been Brooklyn’s most successful over the course of the season, with an offensive rating of 121.5 and defensive rating of 110.2 for an 11.3 net. On Friday night against the Celtics, an 18-3 run early in the quarter turned the game in Brooklyn’s favor for good.
“I think everybody out there who’s playing well, contributing, we’re just gaining confidence so when the guys come back and there’s a five out there that’s not James, Ky, or KD we know what we can do,” said Brown. “Just go out there and play freely and play well.”
STATUS REPORT
The Nets have listed both Kevin Durant and Tyler Johnson as probable for Sunday's game against Phoenix. Durant has missed Brooklyn's last three games after leaving last Sunday's game against Miami with a thigh contusion. Nic Claxton and Alize Johnson remain out due to health and safety protocols.
SWEET AT HOME
With Friday’s win over Boston, the Nets have won 11 of their last 12 games at Barclays Center. Brooklyn’s 24-7 record at home this season is the NBA’s second best behind only Utah (26-3) and the home winning percentage of .767 is second in franchise history behind the 2001-02 and 2002-03 teams that went to the NBA Finals after gong 33-8 (.805) at home in both seasons.
COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH
Brooklyn’s 109-104 win over Boston on Friday was the team’s 25th “clutch” win of the season, defined by the NBA as a game within five points in the final five minutes. That’s the most in the NBA. The Nets are second in clutch games played (35) and winning percentage in those games (.714).
ABOUT THE SUNS
Phoenix is 42-17 and in second place in the Western Conference. The Suns are 16-4 in their last 20 games. The Nets won the previous meeting, 128-124 in Phoenix on Feb. 16, coming back from a 24-point deficit. That was part of Brooklyn’s sweep of a five-game West Coast trip amid a streak of winning 14 times in 15 games. The Suns have the NBA’s third-best net rating (6.2) while ranking seventh in offensive rating (115.9) and fifth in defensive rating (109.7). Phoenix is second in field goal percentage (48.7), fifth in effective field goal percentage (56.1) and third in assists (27.1). The Suns are 29th in both free throws made (15.2) and attempted (18.2) but they’re second in free throw percentage (82.8). Devin Booker leads Phoenix with 25.1 points per game plus 4.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds. Chris Paul is fourth in the league with 8.8 assists per game and averages 16.0 points. Deandre Ayton is fourth in field goal percentage (62.3) whiel averaging a double-double with 15.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
“The Suns are as good as anybody in the league this year,” said Steve Nash. “They’ve been unbelievable, so we have a challenge. We’re again going to be undermanned. We’re going to have to step up and play together and fight and have that winning spirit. So we’ve got our hands full on Sunday against a team that has two days off. For us, to run it back on Sunday against a really top team is going to be a great challenge.”