The Brooklyn Nets got a pair of perfect shooting nights from Landry Shamet and Taurean Prince as part of a deep scoring attack in Wednesday night’s 145-141 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
It was a welcome sight from a pair with a track record of connecting from distance at a high rate, but who had struggled to connect consistently early in the season.
“Yeah, I asked Taurean and Landry and they said they promised they wouldn't miss tonight, so I made sure that I gave him some opportunities,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “So I was happy for them that they kind of got their rhythm back.”
“I’m happy for them,” said Jarrett Allen. “They had their bounceback game. Obviously, everybody saw they were struggling. They couldn’t hit a shot. But none of them let their heads get down. They came in ready to make the next one, talking about ‘Once I hit one, they’re all going to fall.’ That’s exactly what happened tonight. They were ready to step up. Our stars couldn’t make a shot in the first half, and they stepped up, made their shots.”
Shamet and Prince were among seven Nets who scored in double figures in the win, including four of the five players who came off the bench, as the Brooklyn second unit combined for 56 points.
“That’s what a team is all about, you know? When you’re not making shots early on, you need your guys to come on and pick you up,” said Kevin Durant. “Defenses are gonna be focused on (Kyrie Irving) and myself, so having guys like Taurean and Landry who can knock down shots for us; we had — two, three, four, five, six, seven guys in double figures, and that’s only good for the team.”
Both players came in shooting below 20 percent from the field through Brooklyn’s first four games, but each shot 5-for-5 overall and 2-for-2 from 3-point range. Shamet finished with 14 points, and Prince with 12.
“You could point to a number of things,” said Shamet. “Point to whatever you want. I just came out with it. I had a different mindset, different approach tonight, for the benefit of our team. I tried to be aggressive and I made a few changes up top mentally and came in the game. I’ve been working my (butt) off all offseason. It was two games into, two or three games in the regular season, and I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. Just let my work prevail, like I said. Make a few changes up top, mentally, and shots went in tonight.”
With the Nets trying to keep up early with an Atlanta squad that came out shooting 62.5 percent in the first quarter, Prince came off the bench to quickly knock down a 3-pointer, and followed up with a 20-foot jumper. Shamet followed, first hitting on two jumpers in the lane, and his 3-pointer midway through the second quarter put Brooklyn up 51-48.
Late in the third quarter, Prince finished twice in the paint off feeds from Durant as part of the 7-1 Brooklyn burst that closed the third quarter and brought the Nets within two going into the fourth.
“I think it's just continuing to trust in my work,” said Prince. “I mean, we all work super hard so it's not a problem of getting in the gym. Or it's not a thing that is necessarily not doing the right things off the court. It's just trusting in what you do and continuing to do it. And just letting things fall where they may.”