The Nets will look to get their first win of the season against the Detroit Pistons. Brook Lopez will miss his second straight game. According to Brooklyn Nets Head Coach Lionel Hollins, Lopez “still has pain”. He wasn’t able to attend the Nets practice on Friday either.
The projected starting lineup for the Nets is Deron Williams, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Johnson, Kevin Garnett, and Mason Plumlee. Point guard Brandon Jennings has gotten the start the last two games, even though many believed Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy would not start him, but we might end up seeing D.J. Augustin take his spot in the lineup. Whoever does end up getting the start could be joined by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Singler, Josh Smith, and Andre Drummond.
The Detroit fans will not only be getting their first live look at Pistons for the first time this season, but also a new state of the art scoreboard that was created this past offseason. It should be a good crowd in the Palace of Auburn Hills.
With Lopez out, the Nets will look to get better results from Mason Plumlee. Because of foul trouble, Plumlee didn’t play many minutes. They will need him to be ready to go all out as he will be matched up with Drummond, his former Team USA teammate.
According to coach Hollins, “we’re a work in progress. We haven’t had as much work as we would’ve liked after going on the China trip.” With two days off, Brooklyn will hope to have used it as an advantage and be rested to go up against Detroit. With the Nets not being one of the youngest team in the league, all the rest they can get will greatly be helpful to them.
With Lopez still out, the Nets will also need much more production from Williams and Johnson. Both guys had trouble shooting the ball the previous game, and this team can’t afford to see that night be repeated. Brooklyn’s bench was superb last game, led by Miroslav Teletovic. They will need to repeat that performance in this one, but the defense will have to be better.
This game will feature two teams hungry for their first victory of the young season. The season has just begun this week, but with the East getting tougher, these two teams will look to avoid having to play catch up early on. It should be interesting to see who will want this victory more.
The game will start at 7:30 P.M EST.