December is the month of opportunity for the Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets (10-9, ninth in the Eastern Conference) have found a way to have a winning record through 19 games despite dealing with one of the toughest schedules in the league along with significant injuries along the way. Brooklyn is getting healthier slowly, but surely and December could be a huge month for the franchise.
In a recent article by John Schuhmann of NBA.com, in which he broke down the strength of schedule for every team in the league heading into December, he showed that the Nets have one of the easiest schedules not only in the Eastern Conference, but also in the NBA.
At the writing of the piece, Brooklyn had the third-easiest strength of schedule in the East according to cumulative opponent winning percentage and the sixth-easiest schedule when including the entire league. However, according to Schuhmann’s data, the Nets will have to maintain focus throughout the month as they will have to play three sets of back-to-backs along with just six games at home compared to nine games on the road.
More to the point, as of Tuesday, the Nets actually have just fives games at home after beating the Orlando Magic at home 129-101 on Saturday. Brooklyn’s next game is Wednesday at the Atlanta Hawks who interestingly enough have an easier strength of schedule than the Nets for December.
Here’s what Schuhmann had to say about Brooklyn’s December schedule:
“The Nets ranked 23rd offensively after the trade deadline last season, but have a top-10 offense as we enter December. And they’ll have a relatively easy month regarding opposing defenses, with twice as many games against teams that currently rank in the bottom 10 defensively (6) than they have against top-10 defenses (3). That includes two games each against the Wizards and Pistons.”
