Brooklyn Nets vs. Portland Trail Blazers Takeaways and Grades 3/4/17

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Mar 4, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin (7) puts up a shot over Portland Trail Blazers forward Noah Vonleh (21) during the first half of the game at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports /

Takeaways

1. Turnovers — a lot of them

The Nets started the game sloppy. They committed eight turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game. It wasn’t caused completely by the Trail Blazers’ defense. Players had difficulty dribbling and passing, committing unforced errors. Thankfully, Portland wasn’t able to capitalize that much on the Nets’ misfortunes. The score was within 10 throughout the first quarter. Ultimately, the Nets only committed 14 turnovers in the game, so the players were able to tighten the offense up.

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2. Strong shooting – for both teams

Even though the Nets struggled with turnovers in the first — and with fouls in the second, strong shooting from Sean Kilpatrick and Quincy Acy kept Brooklyn in the game. Kilpatrick was red-hot from three, with his first big game in a long time. Acy continued his strong play as well. Overall, the Nets shot 47 percent from three. But unfortunately, Portland responded. They shot an astonishing 64 percent from three in the game, which may have been the deciding factor.

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3. Al-Farouq Unstoppable

Along with an impressive performance from C.J. McCollum, Al-Farouq Aminu was on fire. Although it may have been due to Mike Fratello’s presence (catch the YES Network replay for more on that), Aminu scored from everywhere. He even made Nets defenders sit on invisible chairs. Matched up against Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Trevor Booker, Aminu was the guy for Portland. (Side note: Jusuf Nurkic is the king of trash talk, and that should be noted somewhere in this piece.)