Brooklyn Boro

Nets score huge ‘program’ win over Cavs

Atkinson cites team’s resilience against defending East champions

October 26, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Spencer Dinwiddie rises to fire up what proved to be the game-winning 3-pointer in the Nets’ stunning 112-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday night at Downtown’s Barclays Center. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II
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The biggest win of the Kenny Atkinson era began with a Wednesday morning film session in which the second-year Brooklyn Nets head coach lambasted his team for breaking down when it mattered most in Tuesday night’s loss in Orlando.

It ended with the Nets standing alone atop the Atlantic Division standings Wednesday night following a stunning 112-107 victory over LeBron James and the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

“I wasn’t the nicest person with them this morning,” admitted Atkinson, who watched his team squander a pair of double-digit advantages the previous night en route to a humbling 125-121 setback to the Magic.

His demeanor could not have improved when he found out before Wednesday’s tilt with Cleveland that the Nets would be without leading scorer D’Angelo Russell due to a sprained right knee.

But the Nets (3-2) got a huge contribution from third-string point guard Spencer Dinwiddie (career-high 22 points, five rebounds and season-high six assists), including the go-ahead 3-pointer with under a minute to play, to somehow stave off a furious fourth-quarter push by the Cavs.

“We blew a lead yesterday and today Kenny did a great job showing us on film what we did and how we started going one on one toward the end,” said Brooklyn forward DeMarre Carroll, who finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals against Cleveland.

“We weren’t trusting the system. We weren’t trusting our teammates. I think that was the biggest thing. We trusted each other. We got a win. My hat’s off to Kenny, because if he didn’t come in today and get on us like he did before we went out there and played, we probably wouldn’t have showed up like this.”

The victory, albeit an early season one against a Cleveland squad that was without Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose, not only put Atkinson in a better mood, but also gave him an indication that the Nets are buying into the philosophy being preached across the board by this rebuilding organization.

“Bouncing back from last night is the real key, and then you add on top of that it’s a great team, it’s a good win for our organization,” Atkinson said after the Nets knocked down 17 3-pointers on a franchise-record 46 attempts.

After going an NBA-worst 20-62 last season, losing starting point guard Jeremy Lin to a devastating knee injury on opening night and not having Russell available, this victory proved to be especially inspiring for Atkinson.

“These kind of wins, you feel good about your program because it’s a group effort,” he noted. “It’s the NBA and there’s another game in two days, but yeah, I think it shows that we’re making progress.”

The progression has been noticeable despite Brooklyn’s ongoing defensive deficiency. Atkinson and general manager Sean Marks have built a fast, athletic up-and-down-the-floor unit that shoots the long ball without a conscience.

The Nets exemplified that philosophy in this win, placing six players in double figures in scoring and coming within three points of becoming the first NBA team since the 1985-86 Detroit Piston to score at least 115 in each of their first five games.

James, who recorded his 56th career triple-double in the loss but missed a pair of critical free throws down the stretch, including one on purpose, cited Brooklyn’s break-neck, no-holds style.

“They shoot the long ball and they shoot it,” he said. “They shot 46 threes, I believe. They’re just playing free, free of mind, that’s exactly how they’re playing. They’ve moving it, they’re sharing it and that’s good ball.”

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Allen Crabbe contributed 19 points apiece and Joe Harris and Caris LeVert added 11 and 10, respectively, for Brooklyn, which will try to resume its surprising early season push Friday night at Madison Square Garden against the East River rival and thus-far winless Knicks.

“Just keep shooting,” said Crabbe, one of the key additions Marks brought in this past summer. “Shooters shoot. Nobody on this team is telling me to stop shooting. So they kept telling me the next one’s going to go in, just keep shooting. You saw what happened tonight.”

“I’ve actually shot some really uncharacteristically deep threes,” added Dinwiddie, whose game-winner was measured at 31 feet. “But they don’t care, so I’m just letting it fly. I was fortunate enough to make that one, and we won the game.”

Binge shooting wasn’t the only reason the Nets won this game.

Brooklyn forced Cleveland into 21 turnovers, including eight by James, and recorded 11 steals on the way to scoring a season-best 24 points off giveaways just one night after literally handing a game to the Magic.

“You debate with yourself, do I show film from last night, show them all the negative stuff they did?” Atkinson said.

“But I thought this was a time we need to address this. A few of those points got by, just being more disciplined on the defensive end.”

And collectively believing that there are better days to come for a franchise that is sorely, if not direly, in need of them.

“We’re not going to celebrate all night long because of this,” Atkinson said. “But I do think we should feel good about ourselves.”

Nothing But Net: Brooklyn improved to 7-3 against Cleveland at Barclays Center since moving into the Downtown arena back in 2012 … Hollis-Jefferson’s 19 points were a season high and the third-year forward is showing significant progress offensively after beginning his career as a defensive stalwart without much shooting touch. Through five games, he is averaging 15 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest … Russell is listed as day-to-day with the right knee sprain that sidelined him Wednesday night, and the Nets did not indicate if he would be back in the lineup for Friday night’s visit to MSG.

 

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