Watch Live: Brooklyn Nets vs. Orlando Magic, 7:30 PM EST on YES Network

Nov 29, 2022 - 12:00 AM

The Brooklyn Nets kicked off their 7-game homestand on Sunday night with a nice win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Now, on Monday night, they welcome in the Orlando Magic who have a lot of nice young talent and plenty of future potential.

In 2022-23? Not much really going on with the Magic, as they sit at 5-15 on the season, but they’re set up nicely to potentially/eventually make some noise.

Still, if you’re the Nets you don’t want to get caught in a back-to-back trap against an inferior team. It’s easy to overlook this game, but do so at your own peril.

WHO: Brooklyn Nets (10-11) vs. Orlando Magic (5-15)

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. est

WHERE: YES Network (tv and app), WFAN-FM (radio)

Game preview.

Another young, fun team, Brooklyn must make sure to focus on the little things. Rinse and repeat. The lack of defensive rebounding is starting to cloud all other issues. For example, you might not have guessed that lineups with Ben Simmons and Nic Claxton have actually performed at league-average on offense. That’s still not good enough, of course, but it’s workable. The defense with those two on the court, however, has been horrendous. Why? Well, they just can’t get a defensive rebound. According to Cleaning the Glass, Brooklyn is giving up an offensive rebounding rate of 37.4 with those two on the court, which would rival the worst marks ever. It drops a nuke on lineups with Brooklyn’s two lefties.

Simmons with Claxton, Claxton with Simmons, dunker spot, short-roll, it doesn’t matter. None of it matters if Brooklyn can’t get a rebound. That’s part of why it feels like there’s another shoe to drop. We can’t analyze the schematic tendencies of this Brooklyn team to the fullest until the minutiae is taken care of. Too often, the reasoning for a loss is, “they didn’t bring” it, and vice-versa for a win.

For more on the Magic, check out Orlando Pinstriped Post.