When the Nets traded away Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, what Brooklyn’s identity would be was a bit of a mystery. With the pieces they added it was clear their defense would improve, but beyond that, it was still a bit unknown,
Now with four straight wins under their belt, including a statement win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, it’s becoming a bit clearer what this version of the Nets is. And that would be a pesky team that can give any team fits and could be a very tough out in the postseason.
What the Nets showed on Sunday night was a resilience that could define the team going forward. Brooklyn bent, but it didn’t break.
“I wouldn’t say a statement win, not yet,” Nic Claxton said about Sunday’s win, which was Brooklyn’s second straight and fifth in their last six games. “It’s definitely a game that we can build off of. We just got to keep growing as a team.”
The Nets had contributions across the board, which is something that is more and more common for Brooklyn in its new iteration. Nic Claxton had a big game offensively with 20 points, Spencer Dinwiddie put up a career-high 16 assists, Royce O’Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith played important roles in the second half and the Nets continued their trend of dominating third quarters.
And of course, Mikal Bridges impressed with another strong performance that ended in a 25-point night.
“The biggest thing is just staying together. It’s just unbelievable to see with just the little bit of time we’ve had together,” Bridges told the New York Post. “But we were all confident when we all came here and we were put together and just kind of had that mentality, ‘OK, a lot of us got traded so you feel some type of way, and you just want to go out there and hoop.’ It’s just crazy how fast it’s (come together) where we just stick together no matter what the situation is, being down 13, then making runs and keeping that lead.”
The Nets are sure to want to avoid falling into holes like they did against Denver, but the resiliency shown by Brooklyn to rally back and win is exactly how this team needs to play. They’re still ironing out the wrinkles a little bit. however, their current stretch is a sign that the Nets have started to find their identity.
