Nets look towards the future with first game after Nash departure. 

KD pictured with possible Head Coaching candidate Ime Udoka.

• BULLS INJURY LIST
• Andre Drummond (left shoulder sprain)
• Lonzo Ball (ankle)
• Colby White (quad)

• NETS INJURY LIST
• Ben Simmons (left knee soreness)
• Seth Curry (left ankle)

 With the Nets announcing today that the team and former head coach Steve Nash have parted ways, the team comes in with a fresh start and looks to build a new foundation against Conference rivals @Chicago Bulls.

1st Quarter

Bulls superstar Zach Lavine would open up Tuesday night's game with a jumper to get things started. The Bulls would look to try and contain Nets team leader in points Kevin Durant (31PPG) on the season. Double teaming Durant on every catch forcing the Slim Reaper to kick the ball out to open teammates who would have difficulties early on hitting open jumpers. 

Kyrie Irving opened the quarter a bit timid on the heels of the backlash he faced over the "promotion" of anti-semitic speech via his Instagram. Durant would play the role of facilitator early on finding Nets center Nic Claxton on a dive to the rim for the jam.

Nets veteran swing man Royce O'Neale would have a strong start on both ends of the court. Providing defense in the form of a steal and transition layup and being the only Brooklyn player outside of Durant to get it going in the first.

Bulls backup Goran Dragic would provide Chicago with much needed offensive help. Coming in and instantly providing scoring with two 3point makes keeping the Bulls within a basket 22-20 Nets in the middle of the 1st.

Durant would start to heat up toward the end of the quarter with a flurry of midrange jumpers and three point makes. Durant would finish the quarter with 14PTS as to say "it wasn't me" following the philosophy of a wise man named Shaggy in regards to Brooklyns early season woes. Nets up after 1st 27-25

7 points for 7 (for now) pic.twitter.com/MN2wykhjQ6

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 1, 2022

2nd quarter

Nets bench plays strong.

The second would start with Kyrie Irving running the offense with KD on the bench for a well deserved rest. Irving would end the first quarter scoreless who seemed a bit agitated with his play. Long time Spur Patty Mills would come into the game and hit the first bucket of the quarter. Mills would  add some much needed scoring off the bench for the Nets scoring all of his 9PTS in the second quarter.

Goran Dragic would continue his stellar play hitting another 3 keeping the Bulls within 2 points (40-38 Nets). 

Durant would come back in at the 6:40 mark and instantly go back to work earning a trip to the charity stripe for two free throws. At this point in the game after making both Durant was 6-6 from the FT line.

Dragic and Joe Harris would trade 3 point makes and the game seemed to be building momentum. Dragic would finish the half with 13PTS and DeMar DeRozan would chip in with 8PTS.

KD would finish the half at the free throw line going a perfect 10-10 and scoring 20PTS in the half. Nets lead after the second quarter 58-52.

Second Half

KD continues to put in work.

3rd quarter

Kevin Durant would open up the quarter the same way he finished the first half. Coming out and hitting a sweet spin move at the elbow into his deadly fadeaway jumper giving him his 22nd point of the night.

Royce O'Neale would continue his hot shooting from three on his way to a career high night. O'Neale would finish the game with 20PTS his highest total in his 5 year career. 

Kyrie would continue his poor shooting night going 0-5 up until this part of the game. The Brooklyn nets got some enthusiasm from 4th year small forward Yuta Watanabe. The wing would go 2-3 from beyond the arc and finish a monster put-back jam flexing for the crowd, giving the fans something to cheer about which is rare to come by @Barclays this season. (view here)

Scary moment for Bulls fans who are already dealing with the Lonzo injury. DeMar DeRozan would stumble his way into the paint and seemingly turn his ankle. DeRozan would relocate in the corner for a 3 point attempt which he swished and jog back on defense. He would remain in the game.

Durant would finish the quarter with a running total of 30PTS and DeMar DeRozan would hit a jumper at the buzzer giving him 20PTS headed into the fourth. Nets would lead 80-77.

4th quarter

Zach Lavine wakes up. 

It seemed like the Nets were in a perfect position to earn their first win in the post Steve Nash era. headed into the fourth with a lead and Kevin Durant playing like no one could stop him. All they needed was a Kyrie Irving sighting in the fourth and this game would be a notch in the win column. 

Irving did make his first bucket at the 10:20 mark driving the ball to his left and finishing it closer to the rim than usual seemingly wanting to place his first bucket as far down the net as possible.

The Bulls would go on a early 8-0 Run behind Zach LaVine's hot start which saw him hit the opening bucket of the quarter and a 3 which brought the game tied 84-84.
Midway through the 4th Royce O'Neale got into it with Chicago big Nikola Vucevic when O'Neale attempted to thwart an entry pass into the big by putting Nikola in a arm bar and tossing him to the ground. This would result in a standard NBA "hold me back!" moment as the two players were separated by teammates.

Royce would follow this play up hitting a big 3 down the stretch. Former Laker beloved legend Alex Caruso would hit his only 3 giving the Bulls a 89-88 lead that they would not relinquish.

At this point in the game Zach LaVine would give you shades of Michale Jeffery Jordan, bombarding the Brooklyn Nets defense with big shot after big shots. LaVine would hit his "shrug" moment with 5:45 in the fourth hitting a deeeeeep three over a out stretched defender. Forcing interim coach Jacque Vaughn to call a time out with the Bulls taking the lead 99-90. If you watch the clip closely and you have a PHD in reading lips like I do you can see Zach say to someone on the Nets "Get yo ass over this way!" possibly telling the defender he left LaVine too much space.
LaVine would score 20 of his 29PTS in the 4th quarter. That and KD and Kyrie going cold in the fourth ultimately lead to an impressive Bulls win.

The Chicago Bulls beat the Nets at home 108-99.

MY TAKEAWAYS

•  On a night where I felt the NETS would come out loose and liberated they ultimately fell back onto what got their coach fired in the first place. Kevin Durant looked to be focused on getting a victory tonight but did not have the help he needed.
• Kyrie Irving's body language was all over the place. Outside of the 4th quarter spurt he seemed to be agitated and disinterested. He might force his way out of town before the break. 
• In the last couple of years I have never been as let down by a team than the NETS. Going all the way back to the James Harden trade they always look so sexy on paper and when you actually watch them the game always seems so hard for them. Outside of that Milwaukee series in which we got to see peak KD the Nets have wasted a lot of our basketball viewing hours.

• DeMar and LaVine are a fun duo to watch when those guys are healthy. They mix up the way they score the ball. They both have a flare for the dramatic and seem to step up on big stages. I pray to the basketball GODS they stay healthy so we can see them make a deep run in the post season.
• I do feel the Bulls are a couple of pieces away from duplicating their early season success of last year before the injury derailment. 

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