Player grades: Lonnie Walker IV drops 21 as Nets beat Clippers 100-93
The Brooklyn Nets played their third straight game at home on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers and won 100-93.
For the Nets, Lonnie Walker IV had 21 points and one steal while Cam Thomas had 14 points and two rebounds before leaving the game in the third quarter due to his left ankle injury. Dorian Finney-Smith had 12 points and Royce O’Neale had 12 points.
For the Clippers, Paul George had 24 points and seven rebounds while Kawhi Leonard had 17 points and six rebounds. Russell Westbrook had 13 points and James Harden had 12 points.
In the first half, it was the opposite of what Nets fans have been accustomed to so far this season as neither team could buy a bucket in this half. It seemed that the defensive intensity rose as the half wore on and both teams weren’t getting many open or easy shots.
In the second half, Brooklyn continued to stifle Los Angeles’ offense with the way that the Nets kept sending a second body towards George and Leonard. It looked like that worked wonders as the Clippers big four had underwhelming performances across the board which was unlikely to see prior to this matchup.
Here are your Nets player grades for Wednesday’s win:
Spencer Dinwiddie: C+
Dinwiddie did not have a good shooting game in this one. He was unable to buy a bucket from deep and for some reason, he was settling for just three-point shots. While some of the shots were open, with Dinwiddie’s ability to attach the rim, one would hope that he would turn to that when his jumpshot isn’t falling. However, he did a good job of organizing the offense in the half-court and used his vision to find his open teammates on a number of occasions.
Cam Thomas: Incomplete
Even though Thomas was not on pace to score 40 points in the first half, he did provide some much-needed offense for the Nets in this one. Thomas did have some issues when being matched up with Russell Westbrook, but when Thomas found anyone else on him, he was able to get by them to get to the rim or he was able to free himself for one of his patented mid-range shots. It looks like Thomas is understanding that he is a major part of opposing teams’ scouting report and now, he looks to be expecting extra attention at this point. Thomas left this game in the third quarter due to a sprained left ankle that he suffered after being inadvertently tripped by PJ Tucker.
Mikal Bridges: B-
Bridges had a rough time scoring the ball in this one. While he did not shoot much in his time on the floor, he did face some difficulties getting to his sweet spots when he found someone like Russell Westbrook or PJ Tucker on him in the half-court. Bridges will have to learn to be tighter with his handle if he wants to be better against aggressive point-of-attack defense. Despite the tough offensive game, he did a good job of picking up some rebounds and assists and was a big part of limiting Kawhi Leonard.
Royce O'Neale: B+
O’Neale didn’t have one of his more-explosive offensive games, but he did enough damage from the three-point line to make the Clippers honest with the way that they guarded him. O’Neale can be streaky from deep, but when he’s on, he opens up the rest of the offense for drivers like Spencer Dinwiddie and Cam Thomas. O’Neale also deserves immense credit for the way that he battles inside despite being an undersized big at times when Brooklyn decides to go small.
Dorian Finney-Smith: B+
Finney-Smith looked to be much better on the offensive end than he was on Monday against the Boston Celtics. While he didn’t have much scoring the ball close to the basket, he was very effective shooting the three-ball in this one. Finney-Smith does not get many shots within Brooklyn’s offensive schemes, but when he is open, his teammates will find him and he usually rewards them by making his shots. For being undersized as a center, Finney-Smith takes the job and has been more than effective at that role.
Day'Ron Sharpe: B
Sharpe did not have one of his best offensive games as he was unable to finish in the interior despite getting some good looks at the basket. He still has some growing to do in terms of his coordination, but Sharpe does give a lot of effort to move around in Brooklyn’s defensive scheme. More to the point, Sharpe may not able to contribute much on the offensive end outside of setting screens right now, but he has a knack for rebounding the basketball and knowing where to be when the shot goes up.
Lonnie Walker IV: A
As hyperbole as this sounds, Walker has not had a bad game yet. The things that Walker is able to do on the offensive end of the floor has been nothing short of incredible and other than Cam Thomas, Walker has been the next-best tough shot maker on the team. Walker will not rack up a bunch of assists or defensive stats, but his offense has been more than enough to balance that and provide Brooklyn with some game-changing plays.
Dennis Smith Jr: B
Smith did not have the cleanest offensive game of his career, mostly because of his jumpshot still needs some work whenever he has open shots at the three-point line or in the mid-range. The ironic thing about Smith is that he gets a bunch of good looks within the offensive flow, but he just can’t take advantage of those looks like most players can. With that being said, Smith played some incredible defense in this one as he had a few plays of just stripping his man of the ball and getting something going the other way.
Trendon Watford: A+
Watford had one of those performances that gets told through generations by word of mouth over what he did during the day leading up to his performance. Obviously, Watford did not drop 50 points or something like that, but given that it was unknown whether he was even in Brooklyn to play in the game, he was amazing. Watford was doing everything imaginable from scoring to assisting to posterizing and everything in between.
