As if no controversy had ever broken down the door of their locker room, this night, the Nets (6-9) went to win a real basketball game in Portland (10-4), absolute leader of the Western Conference. The officers? Ben Simmons in double-double, Kevin Durant awesome, Yuta Watanabe in mode daggerman and Royce O’Neale to draw the curtain. It is this versatile group that the NBA needs to expand its offer of contenders On title.
The pretty house boxscore is by ICI !
“Look at our starting five. Edmond Sumner, Kevin Durant, Joe Harris, Nic Claxton and me. It’s not a lack of respect, but what do you expect from this group? You expect us to win because I’m there”. It won’t take long for Royce O’Neale to remix Kevin Durant’s statement. Unlikely that he does, but very plausible that he thinks so. Author of a perfect triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, his first in career, the former Jazz soldier passed his 1/7 to 3-pointers at the last of the plans. The Blazers are defeated, 109-107, thanks in large part to their defense on Jerami Grant. “Boarf, it’s still just Jerami Grant huh, a kind of Pascal Siakam from Wish who hits spins and invented a life as a franchise player in Detroit…”. A decided opinion but no longer very valid – and which never really was. Position 4 of the Blazers ride the All-Star wave since the start of the season, but this time wallowed with only 5 points at 2/12 shooting. The Rolls Royce effect.
ROYCE O’NEALE CLUTCH
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) November 18, 2022
A falling tree makes more noise than a growing forest. On this quasi-buzzer, the arms concerned with success are raised, the faces – even the most expressionless – explode, Kevin Durant finally breathe. The “double” All-Star worked in the submarine to make this punctuation possible. With 35 points at 59% shooting, he became the 19th player in history to reach 26,000 points last night. He will logically overtake Kevin Garnett in a few games, and could end this 2022-23 season in the Top 10 All-Time scorers. At “only” 34, that makes you a good man. What will he have missed to make a perfect individual copy? The notch of Yuta Watanabe, transformed into an assassin in the corner in the last minutes of the game, and whose score sheet shows 20 points at 5/7 from the parking lot. The Japanese deserves all the positive thoughts expressed about him since the start of this regular. He snipes over 55% from 3-point range (1st in the NBA) and doesn’t have swollen eyes. That’s to say ? That is to say, we don’t see him stepping out of his role in a squad that until now has lacked circle aggressors on the wing. He’s not going to invent a life for himself like role players too confident, who forget the one and only reason for their recruitment: to draw. It’s clean and it doesn’t abuse the lease.
Yuta is FEELING it ???? pic.twitter.com/KilT9ruo70
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 18, 2022
A quick word about Portland?
The Blazers completely foiled (39% shooting) but still did not come far from winning thanks in particular to a Shaedon Sharpe at 20 units: a somewhat reassuring underperformance compared to recent seasons during which, playing in this way, Portland would have eaten -25. A tad better this year, Damian Lillard was completely off his feet last night, in 2021-22 mode, at 8/24 shooting including 3/12 from 3-pointers. Not super lucid in the last moments of the game, he is a watch that will have to be reset.
Too early to draw the curtain and spin off, Ben Simmons cannot sleep without reading two or three lines about him. He was useful, at the service of the collective as he had not been for… for a long time. But that, you will know in a paper being written – and that we put you in the right link –TO BE once it is available.