Trail Blazers at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets snapped a 10-game home losing streak and got interim coach Tony Brown his first win on Wednesday by taking down the New York Knicks. The Nets will try to turn that into back-to-back victories when they close out a three-game homestand by hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
Brooklyn averaged 82.6 points during a five-game slide that culminated in a 106-79 loss to San Antonio in the homestand opener before breaking out against the Knicks in a 110-104 victory on Wednesday. “I wanted them to play free and with a bit of pace,” Brown, who took over after Lionel Hollins was let go on Sunday, told reporters. “I saw a little passion. I thought our guys were excited to play in the second half, especially down the stretch and they fed off each other. That was one of the first times in a long time I’ve seen that with this team.” The Trail Blazers are playing with a similar passion of late and followed up a thrilling win over the Oklahoma City Thunder with a triumph over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. Star guard Damian Lillard is leading the way with an average of 30.7 points and 9.7 assists in the last three contests.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (17-24): Portland’s two consecutive wins has the team thinking in terms of making the postseason again, and the 99-85 triumph over Utah gave the team a victory against the team directly in front of it in the standings. “We know Utah is in front of us for the eighth seed, they’re (17-21 entering Thursday) or something like that,” guard C.J. McCollum told reporters. “They’re a win or two in front of us in the win column, we’re aware of that. But besides that, just got to continue to control what you can control. Every day we’ve got to come out prepared, mentally and physically locked in and ready to compete.” The Trail Blazers have a chance to continue the streak with the next three against East teams currently under .500.
ABOUT THE NETS (11-28): Brooklyn pulled the plug on its current strategy with the firing of Hollins and the reassignment of general manager Billy King, and Brown is just trying to get the players on the same page. The Nets shot 52.3 percent from the floor in the win over the Knicks and center Brook Lopez was impressed with the team’s energy. “We just had a very great energy about us the entire game,” Lopez told reporters. “Regardless if we were hot, or they were making a run, we played the same way. That’s what we need to do. Down the stretch especially we played confidently, we played our game and shared the ball well. It was a complete team effort.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets G Bojan Bogdanovic went 4-of-5 from the field on Wednesday after missing all 16 of his shot attempts in the previous three contests.
2. McCollum is shooting 32.1 percent from the field in his last four games.
3. Brooklyn snapped a three-game slide in the series with a 106-96 home win on Apr. 6.