{"id":342973,"date":"2023-10-31T07:24:21","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T08:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=342973"},"modified":"2023-10-31T10:02:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T10:02:51","slug":"reborn-simmons-sizzles-in-nets-statement-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=342973","title":{"rendered":"Reborn Simmons sizzles in Nets statement win"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what was supposed to be a year of rebuilding for the Brooklyn Nets<\/a>, a dominant first victory of the NBA season may have changed their early trajectory.<\/p>\n

Cam Thomas scored 33 points as the Nets built a 21 point first quarter lead and held on to defeat the Charlotte Hornets 133-121.<\/p>\n

Australian Ben Simmons impressed early for the Nets, notching four points, four rebounds and three assists in his opening seven minutes.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The gun NRL players your club could lose tomorrow<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Grim pay accusations rock team's World Cup campaign<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Ben<\/p>\n

Simmons ended with 11 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and one block in his side's victory.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Mikal Bridges had 24 points and Lonnie Walker IV and Dorian Finney-Smith each added 19 for the now 1-2 Nets, who shot 56.3 per cent from the field.<\/p>\n

Terry Rozier had 23 points and rookie Brandon Miller added a career high 22 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets.<\/p>\n

\"Simmons'<\/p>\n

Miller, the No.2 pick in the draft, is averaging 17.3 points in his first three games with the Hornets.<\/p>\n

The Nets played without Cam Johnson (calf) and Nic Claxton (ankle), forcing them to go to a small lineup, but that didn't stop them from dominating the Hornets early.<\/p>\n

The Hornets' one on one defence was routinely exposed, as they were unable to defend drives by Thomas, Bridges, Finney-Smith and Walker.<\/p>\n

\"Cam<\/p>\n

LaMelo Ball struggled to cover his man and spent most of the game and fouled out in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was just our spacing,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played a lot of small ball and a lot of five out. That opened up a lot of driving lanes for us. The bigs were pulled out and it gave the guards a lot of driving lanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrooklynNets\/status\/1719191079734427922<\/a><\/p>\n

Thomas has now scored at least 30 points in each of his first three games for the Nets.<\/p>\n

He said he's getting comfortable now in his third NBA season, and coach Jacque Vaughn is liking what he's seeing from the forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know he has ability to score the basketball, but it has not been forced,\u201d Vaughn said post match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt's been within the flow of the offence. And then at certain times when we need a bucket and he is capable of doing that also. So he is learning how to survey the game and when we need him to score and when he needs to facilitate.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrooklynNets\/status\/1719151828804239856<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hornets surrendered 28 fast break points, which Hornets coach Steve Clifford attributed to poor shot selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took some quick threes without putting any pressure on the defence, and they got it and were gone,\u201d Clifford said.<\/p>\n

"It was definitely the defence, but a lot of that I think was our shot selection early on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn came out of the gates fast, hitting its first eight shots.<\/p>\n

The Nets led 42-23 after the first quarter after shooting 62.1 per cent from the floor and dominating the glass against the taller Hornets.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrooklynNets\/status\/1719156298044858643<\/a><\/p>\n

Miller is the only reason the Hornets remained in the game in the first half.<\/p>\n

The rookie had 16 points before the break and pinned a shot against the backboard on defence, bringing the home crowd to its feet.<\/p>\n

Ball struggled the entire game.<\/p>\n

The only former All-Star on the Hornets roster, Ball finished with eight points on 3-of-12 shooting, missing all six shots from beyond the arc as the Hornets lost their second straight game.<\/p>\n

Clifford attributed Ball's slow start to the season to missing most of the summer while recovering from a broken ankle.<\/p>\n

He said he is still behind other players, but is confident he will catch up.<\/p>\n

The Nets lost guard Spencer Dinwiddle to a sprained ankle in the first half.<\/p>\n

He played only 13 minutes and scored five points before exiting the game for good.<\/p>\n

\"Spencer<\/p>\n

Before the game Vaughn said that Johnson will miss at least 10 days with strained left calf he injured in game two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had hope but reality set in a little bit," Vaughn said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ended up getting an MRI, so we are just waiting on those results after the contusion just to be safe.<\/p>\n

"We will reevaluate him in 10 days and see what he looks like from there."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In what was supposed to be a year of rebuilding for the Brooklyn Nets, a dominant first victory of the NBA season may have changed […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":342978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342973"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342988,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342973\/revisions\/342988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/342978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}