Player grades: Mikal Bridges scores 34 as Thunder beat Nets 121-107
The Brooklyn Nets visited the Paycom Center on Tuesday to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder and lost 121-107. Oklahoma City won the regular-season series 2-0.
For the Nets, Mikal Bridges had 34 points and four rebounds while Cam Johnson had 23 points and nine rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie had 16 points and Nic Claxton had 12 points.
For the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points and seven rebounds while Lugentz Dort had 24 points and nine rebounds. Jalen Williams had 23 points and Josh Giddey had 15 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists.
In the first half, Brooklyn essentially dominated the game thanks to the play of Mikal Bridges (16 points) and Cam Johnson (15 points). The Nets were sharing the ball about as well as they have at any point this season when they amassed 20 assists on 22 made field-goals. Their defense was also going in this one as they held the Thunder to 40.4% shooting from the field and 15.4% shooting from three-point land.
In the second half, this game turned on its head. In the third quarter, it was a reverse of roles as Oklahoma City became the team couldn’t miss. Brooklyn went from being up by 10 points to down eight points thanks to Lu Dort hitting five threes in the period. The fourth quarter was more of the same as the Nets could not regain their first-half.
Here are your Nets player grades:
Spencer Dinwiddie: B
Dinwiddie had a rough shooting performance in this one. He could not get anything going from the field as his jump shot wasn’t one and the Thunder defended his drives well. Dinwiddie did a good job of getting to the free-throw line and he was awesome passing the ball. His vision was on full display as he was finding his teammates left and right for easy scores.
Mikal Bridges: B
Bridges did a good job of scoring the ball in this contest. He wasn’t particularly efficient from the field as he had some trouble dealing with the length of the Thunder, but he did a good job of keeping the pressure on by constantly driving to the rim. Bridges did a good job of helping to rebound the basketball and he played some good defense as he had the tough assignment of guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for most of the game.
Cameron Johnson: B+
Johnson did a good job of scoring the ball in this matchup. He had his three-point shot going and he was able to get to the rim on a number of occasions to show off his finishing ability. He was a great presence on the glass to help out Nic Claxton and he brought some extra value to the court with his passing ability.
Dorian Finney-Smith: C
Finney-Smith had a tough shooting night against Oklahoma City. He couldn’t get much to fall from the field despite getting some good looks at the basket. Despite his offensive struggles, Finney-Smith did a good job of rebounding amongst the trees. However, his defense was not as impactful in this one as it has been recently.
Nic Claxton: B+
Claxton did a good job of scoring the ball in this one. He did not shoot much in this game, but he did a good job of finishing at the rim when the ball came to him. Claxton’s free-throw shooting is still a work-in-progress, but it’s good to see him remain confident even when teams like the Thunder employ their hack-a-Clax strategy. Claxton was awesome on the boards and his defense was passable even though OKC was getting whatever it wanted at the rim.
Cam Thomas: F
Thomas played only three minutes in the first half so there’s not much to go off of in this game. Thomas took only one shot so it’s uncertain if it was how he looked out there or if Jacque Vaughn wanted to go with more outside shooting. In a game where Brooklyn struggled to score for long stretches of time, it may have been worth giving Thomas more run in the second half to see what he had.
Royce O'Neale: C
O’Neale did a good job of scoring the ball in this one. He didn’t take many shots and he didn’t push the pace in transition as much as he has been recently. He did a good job of rebounding the ball, but other than that, it wasn’t much else that O’Neale did in this one to make an impact.
Seth Curry: C+
Curry did a good job of scoring the ball in this contest. His three-point shot was working in this one and he some a couple of big ones as Brooklyn built its double-digit lead. Other than that, Curry did not bring much else to the table in this one.
Joe Harris: D
Harris did not shoot well in this game as he just didn’t have it going from the field to display another Joe E. Buckets performance. It seems that Harris, like the rest of the team, struggled shooting the ball in the second half.
