Kevin Durant said it was time for the next man up. DeAndre Jordan told him to go out there and have fun. And Bruce Brown delivered in Brooklyn’s 130-96 win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.
“I thought he did great,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “He played with energy and toughness. I thought it was the hustle plays. He got some rebounds, he got some assists and was just engaged and so I just thought it was great for him coming off of no minutes to be able to play with that type of engagement and concentration. It was a tribute to him and his character.”
The first few weeks of his Nets career were a challenge for Brown, a regular starter over his first two NBA seasons in Detroit. But a draft-night trade brought him to a Nets team with championship aspirations and plenty of competition for minutes. Over Brooklyn’s first seven games, he played in three.
But Spencer Dinwiddie’s knee injury cut into the guard rotation, the Nets lost four of five, and with Durant out due to COVID health protocols, Nash shuffled Brooklyn’s starting lineup and rotations in a major way. Brown was in, though he didn’t know about the change until Nash started going through the routine pregame lineups and personnel matchups.
.@BruceBrown11 making that immediate impact! pic.twitter.com/RectSV1SXv
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 6, 2021
“I just started smiling,” said Brown. “And I knew I was ready. My teammates knew I was ready so I just gotta go out there and bring energy and I do well.”
A second-round pick in 2018, Brown earned his time on the court with the Pistons with defense, and he embraces that aspect. Teamed with Kyrie Irving in the starting backcourt, Brown matched up with Utah’s Donovan Mitchell with an eye on bringing an aggressive edge from the tip.
As Irving got off to a fast start on the offensive end, Brown helped frustrate the Jazz into 2-of-12 shooting to start the game, including 0-of-3 from 3-point range, and his drive cutting to the rim off an Irving feed put Brooklyn up 20-4 six minutes into the game.
“I definitely look forward to those matchups,” said Brown. “That's what I'm here for. So I'll leave the scoring to Kyrie and everybody else who scores the ball. I'm here to play defense and make the hustle plays. I'm kind of pissed I didn't have a steal today. I think I need to start, I need to get more steals to help us out on the defensive end. But Ky, man I just push the ball and I try to find him. Give him the ball. He’s gonna score, man, any way possible. So just try to get him the ball; he was hot. Yeah, that's really it.”
Brown also brings another capable ball-handler into the backcourt, and he had five assists in 23 minutes, along with six rebounds and six points while making 3-of-5 shots.
“Bruce has been playing hard in practice each and every day,” said Caris LeVert. “They call it the ‘extra work’ group for guys that get low minutes or no minutes some games. He’s always in there playing as well as the other guys who got some minutes tonight. I felt like everybody was ready. Anybody who was called in that position was ready and Bruce got his number called tonight. He was great offensively and defensively and making plays as well. That was huge for our team.”
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January 06, 2021 at 01:44PM
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