Brooklyn Nets vs. Atlanta Hawks Takeaways and Grades

Takeaways

1) The Nets’ bench dominated the Hawks’ bench

The Nets have one of the league’s most prolific benches (their bench ranks second in points per game), and that was on full display against the Hawks. Brooklyn’s reserves accounted for 46 of their 107 points, while Atlanta’s reserves only scored seven points. The Hawks’ bench has lacked production during the team’s seven-game losing streak — they rank second-to-last in the NBA in points per game during this timeframe. However, seven points are still well below their average in these seven contests (25.4 per game), and it ultimately cost them the game. Meanwhile, for the Nets, it’s important to play a myriad of reserves to see who’ll be worthwhile to keep going into next season. Aside from Andrew Nicholson and Justin Hamilton who have racked up a few DNPs as of late, everyone has been rather impressive.

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2) Nets’ sheer production compounded Hawks’ offensive rebounds

The Hawks’ numerous attempts at a comeback mainly came from the team’s astounding amount of offensive boards. 26 of Atlanta’s 58 rebounds came on the offensive end, and many of them led to second-chance opportunities for the Hawks. The Hawks had 30 second-chance points in this game, which isn’t all too surprising considering their dominance on the offensive glass.

However, the Nets were able to weather the storm by never going on too much of a scoring drought. Whenever the Hawks cut into the Nets’ lead, the Nets would respond, and Atlanta still never got within closer than five points in the fourth quarter. Moreover, Brooklyn still finished the game shooting much better than Atlanta — 44.2 percent from the field vs. 34.7 percent, and 27.3 percent from the field vs. 18.5 percent. Too often, we’ve seen the Nets drop a game they held a sizable advantage in because of lack of production to close out the game. It’s nice to see them manage to pull out with a victory of a large margin for a change.

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3) What’s the real March Madness here?

Yep, I’ll let Ben do the talking. You’ve probably seen the meme circulating (or at least the old meme that’s behind by one game) — the Nets have seven wins in March, while the Cavaliers have six. Let’s not forget: Brooklyn still holds the league’s worst record at 16-57. To think, seven of the Nets’ 16 wins this season came from this month (that’s 43.75 percent, yes I used a calculator) is extremely mind-boggling. But, if the Nets keep up this level of play in the remaining nine games of the year, it’ll only give Nets fans so much to look forward to in next season!