The Brooklyn Nets are the No. 28 seed for the tournament phase of the Las Vegas Summer League and open Wednesday against the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets. Here is how to watch and what to watch for.
The Brooklyn Nets were 0-3 in preliminary round play at the Las Vegas Summer League and will have a tough road to travel if they want to turn things around in the tournament phase of the event.
The Nets are the 28th seed for the tournament and will open championship round play Wednesday evening against the No. 5-seeded Houston Rockets (3-0) at Cox Pavilion.
Here are the details on how and where to watch:
No. 28 Brooklyn Nets (0-3) at No. 5 Houston Rockets (3-0)
Date: Wednesday, July 11
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Place: Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas
TV: ESPN2
Streaming: Watch ESPN
The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to play the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between the No. 21 Sacramento Kings and the 12th-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.
The loser will meet the loser of Wednesday’s meeting between the 18th-seeded Atlanta Hawks and the No. 15 seed, the Indiana Pacers, at Cox Pavilion on Friday at 4 p.m. ET.
Here’s a breakdown of the bracket and some things to watch for Wednesday night.
The tournament
Each of the 30 teams in Las Vegas played three games in the preliminary round to determine the seeding for the tournament. Win-loss record was the first criteria, while teams were awarded points based on how many quarters they won throughout the three games.
Quarter-points was the first tiebreaker, followed by scoring differential. The quarter-point system is very simple — a team gets one point if it outscores its opponent in a quarter and each team gets a half-point if the score is tied in a quarter.
There are no additional points for wins or overtime periods.
Five teams finished with 3-0 records, with the Los Angeles Lakers earning the top seed by virtue of accruing 10.5 quarter points.
The Portland Trail Blazers (plus-12.7 point differential) got the No. 2 seed, beating out the Denver Nuggets (plus-7.0) and Phoenix Suns (plus 11.0) based on a better point differential. The top two seeds received byes for the first round.
Phoenix is the No. 3 seed, followed by Denver and the fifth unbeaten squad, the Rockets.
The eight teams that finished 2-1 are seeded as follows:
6. Oklahoma City Thunder (8 quarter points)
7. New Orleans Pelicans (7 QP, plus-10.3 differential)
8. Minnesota Timberwolves (7 QP, plus-6.3)
9. Dallas Mavericks (7 QP, plus-5.3)
10. Boston Celtics (7 QP, plus-4.3)
11. Orlando Magic (5.5 QP, plus-6.0)
12. Cleveland Cavaliers (5.5 QP, plus-4.3)
13. Charlotte Hornets (5 QP)
Fourteen teams finished at 1-2:
14. Milwaukee Bucks (7.5 QP)
15. Indiana Pacers (7 QP, plus-0.7)
16. Washington Wizards (7 QP, minus-2.0)
17. Los Angeles Clippers (6 QP, minus-3.3)
18. Atlanta Hawks (6 QP, minus-3.7)
19. San Antonio Spurs (5.5 QP, minus-3.7)
20. Golden State Warriors (5.5 QP, minus-6.7)
21. Sacramento Kings (5 QP, minus-1.3)
22. Utah Jazz (5 QP, minus-6.0)
23. New York Knicks (5 QP, minus-6.7)
24. Chicago Bulls (4.5 QP, minus-4.0)
25. Detroit Pistons (4.5 QP, minus-7.3)
26. Miami Heat (4 QP, minus-7.3)
27. Memphis Grizzlies (4 QP, minus-13.7)
And finally, the three 0-3 squads:
28. Brooklyn Nets (5 QP)
29. Toronto Raptors (4 QP)
30. Philadelphia 76ers (2 QP)
No help on the way for Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets have four players on the roster who have not made an appearance: Caris LeVert, Juan Pablo Vaulet, Dzanan Musa and Rodions Kurucs.
While Musa was going to be held out of Summer League competition after playing in 75 games between club and national team play last season.
But LeVert and Vaulet have been sidelined by injuries and are not expected to play, while the Nets and FC Barcelona are still hammering out the details of Kurucs’ buyout.
According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, none of the four is expected to be available for the tournament phase:
The Nets got here with an 86-80 loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday, a 90-76 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday and a 78-69 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday.
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Shawn Dawson leads Brooklyn with an average of 12.0 points per game, with Yuta Watanabe putting up 11.7 per game and Theo Pinson averaging 10.0.
James Webb has averaged 6.3 rebounds per game, while Jarrett Allen grabbed 12 in the one game he appeared in against Minnesota.
Jordan McLaughlin leads the Nets with 4.7 assists per game, Milton Doyle has averaged 1.3 steals and Watanabe is getting 2.7 blocks, though Allen had five in his lone appearance.
The group has been inept offensively, shooting 35.6 percent overall and 29.5 percent from 3-point range and has committed 54 turnovers to just 39 for their opponents.
Brooklyn has also gotten absolutely hammered on the glass, outrebounded by a total of 25, including the opponents having a 31-11 edge on the offensive rebounding tally.
On the shooting side, Semaj Christon has been the coldest at just 3-for-20, including 0-for-14 in his last two games, and just 1-of-7 from 3-point range. Doyle hasn’t been a lot better at 6-for-28 overall and 3-for-12 from deep.
How the Rockets got here
De’Anthony Melton had been the leading scorer for the Houston Rockets in the Summer League, averaging 16.3 points per game.
Wiz of Awes
Isaiah Hartenstein scored 24 points in two games, Danuel House is averaging 12 per game, while R.J. Hunter (11.7), Trevon Duval (11.0) and Zhou Qi (10.3) are all in double-figures.
Melton is also averaging seven rebounds a game, with Hartenstein grabbing 18 in his two appearances.
House leads Houston with 3.3 assists per game, Melton is getting 2.7 steals and Zhou is averaging 3.0 blocks, while Hartenstein had five in his two games.
The Rockets beat the Indiana Pacers 92-89 on Friday, topped the Golden State Warriors 87-81 on Sunday and closed out the prelims with a 104-90 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday.
Action starts at Cox Pavilion at 4 p.m. ET with the Clippers and Washington Wizards, followed by the Nets and Rockets. At 8 p.m., ET, it will be the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota and at 10 p.m. ET, the Toronto Raptors take on the Denver Nuggets.
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At Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, it will be the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers at 4:30 p.m. ET, the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks at 6:30 p.m. ET, the Atlanta Hawks and the Pacers at 8:30 p.m. ET and Golden State and the Hornets at 10:30 p.m. ET.