Brooklyn Nets played like they were in a must-win game and gave one of their top performances of the season.
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On Thursday, the Brooklyn Nets played like they were in a must-win game and gave one of their top performances of the season. They’ll try to bring that same energy when they face the Atlanta Hawks at home again on Saturday afternoon.
Brooklyn is currently three games behind the Hawks, who hold the 10th spot for the play-in games. If the Nets win again, they’ll have the upper hand in the head-to-head tiebreaker. They’re aiming for a repeat of Thursday’s 124-97 victory, where they led from start to finish.
Cameron Johnson was the key player in Brooklyn’s second win in five games under interim coach Kevin Ollie. Ollie took over from Jacque Vaughn on February 20th after the Nets suffered a 50-point loss in Boston on February 14th.
Johnson started for the second time in a row after coming off the bench for three games. He scored a season-best 29 points, marking his fifth game with at least 20 points and his first since scoring 24 against Detroit on December 26th.
For the Nets, Simmons (leg injury), Thomas (ankle injury), and Whitehead (foot injury) will not play the game. As for the Hawks, Okongwu (toe injury) will sit this one out. Besides, Gueye (back injury) and Young (finger injury) could also miss out the game.
Brooklyn is aiming to string together back-to-back wins for the first time since defeating the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz on January 27th and 29th. They’ve struggled lately, going 4-9 in their last 13 games, with their previous four losses totaling a whopping 120 points. However, on Thursday, they showed some serious firepower, dishing out 30 assists, shooting 51.1 percent from the field, and sinking 22 3-pointers — their second-highest tally of the season.
The Nets didn’t have Cam Thomas (ankle sprain) or Ben Simmons (knee soreness), and both might still be out on Saturday. Even if Simmons is good to go, he might start on the bench because Dennis Schroder had a big game on Thursday, scoring 23 points and shooting 59.5 percent from the field in his last three games.
Atlanta is in their third game since Trae Young’s left hand injury and surgery, which will sideline him for at least four weeks. They won the first two games against Orlando and Utah but scored less than 100 points for the fourth time this season. The Hawks have gone 8-6 in their last 14 games since losing four straight from January 20th to 26th.
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