By Adrian Stewart Co
A change in the starting lineup was all the Brooklyn Nets needed to get back on the winning track following a 130-96 win over Utah Jazz in the 2020-2021 NBA Season on Tuesday night (Wednesday in the Philippines) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
After starting the match with Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, De’Andre Jordan, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Joe Harris in the past few games, the Nets made innovations by putting Irving with Caris LeVert, Jarret Allen, Jeff Green, and Bruce Brown.
The Nets were blazing to start the match with Irving pouring 18 of his points for a 35-14 advantage. Allen and LeVert joined the fray in the second period as Brooklyn widened the lead to 63-44 at the half.
The Nets did not let up in the second half and was able to put the game away late in the third canto following Allen alley-oop dunk off a feed by LeVert, followed by a jumper by LeVert that stretched its lead to 98-73 from 92-70.
Irving finished the match with 29 points, LeVert added 24 markers, while Allen contributed double-double 19 points and 18 rebounds as the Nets evened its record to 4-4.
The Steve Nash-mentored Nets entered the match minus Durant due to COVID-19 protocols and will continue to miss team’s matches for the remainder of the season.
Donovan Mitchell tallied 31 points, Filipino-American guard Jordan Clarkson added 12 markers, and Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neale had 10 each for the Jazz, which dropped to 4-3.
Meanwhile, LeBron James and Anthony Davis fired 26 points each as the Los Angeles Lakers escaped with a 94-92 win over Memphis Grizzlies. The Lakers improved to 6-2, while the Grizzlies dropped to 2-5.
BOX SCORE:
BROOKLYN 130 – Irving 29, LeVert 24, Allen 19, Luwawu-Cabarrot 11, Harris 10, Prince 8, Brown 6, Johnson 6, Jordan 5, Perry 5, Shamet 5, Green 2, Chiozza 0.
UTAH 96 – Mitchell 31, Clarkson 12, O’Neale 10, Gobert 10, Conley 8, Ingles 7, Hughes 5, Bogdanovic 4, Harrison 3, Favors 2, Azubuike 2, Forrest 2, Oni 0, Niang 0.
Quarterscores: 35-14, 63-44, 98-73, 130-96./ASC, WDJ