While Dallas finds itself outside the top 10 in the West, Brooklyn has almost assured its place in the top 6 in the East after this second consecutive victory. This time, it was Atlanta who paid the price for a Mikal Bridges on fire.
Author of 42 points, the winger arrived in the trade of Kevin Durant has once again illuminated the game of the Nets, with 19 points from Dorian Finney-Smith at his side. The former “role players” of Phoenix and Dallas who shine with Brooklyn, quite a symbol!
While Atlanta had made a good start (25-33), led by the Murray-Bogdanovic-Bey trio, the Nets overturned the table in two subsequent one-sided quarters, finished at +12 and +18.
Royce O’Neale and Joe Harris set the tone from 3-pointers, Mikal Bridges and Dorian Finney-Smith followed, each in their own way, to widen the gap at the break (69-56), then in the third quarter -time with a 12-4 then a 7-0 powered by Bridges to end the period at +22 (101-79).
Enough to give yourself an end to the match without pressure and delight the public like the alley-oop between Spencer Dinwiddie and Nic Claxton then Cam Johnson’s dunk with the fault to head for a victory without appeal, 124-107
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
-From Ironman to Superman. Renowned until now for his remarkable endurance, he who has still not missed a game this season, Mikal Bridges has further confirmed his change in status by offering an XXL performance in an important game for Brooklyn. After Orlando (44 points) this is the second time in three games that he has exceeded 40 points, again with clean percentages and without destabilizing the consistency of Jacque Vaughn’s team.
– The Hawks watered. While the Nets excelled with their outside address to finish 45.5% behind the arc, Atlanta failed to capitalize on their accomplished first quarter, too many Hawks gunners missing out on this night, between Trae Young (0/5), John Collins (0/6) and Jalen Johnson (0/3), contributing to a dismal 8/37 from behind the arc overall (21.6% address).
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Mikal Bridges. More than his 40 points, it was the accuracy of his game and his choices that marked the performance of the new “go-to-guy” of the Nets. Precious when driving the point home by scoring 15 of 42 points passed by Brooklyn in the third quarter.
✅ Dorian Finney-Smith. While the Mavs struggle, DFS treats. As a symbol, the former post 4 of Dallas also shone, in his register, with in particular shooting at 3-points and efficiency near the circle. The perfect threat that he already embodied in Texas and which today benefits Brooklyn wonderfully.
⛔ Trae Young. An evening to forget for him since he completely missed out with his 3/12 in shooting and his +/- which says a lot about the nightmare he lived through (-33).
⛔ John Collins. A game without also for the post 4 of the Hawks who was not able to have an impact on the game which quickly slipped from the hands of his team.
THE FOLLOWING
Brooklyn (41-35) : will receive the Jazz this Sunday (9:30 p.m.).
Atlanta (38-38) : The Hawks will also host Dallas on Sunday (12:00 a.m.).
