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Brooklyn Nets NBA schedule release: December most challenging month

By Phil Watson

NEW YORK, USA - APRIL 08: A general view inside Barclays Cneter during the game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on April 08, 2017 (Photo by William Volcov/Brazil Photo Press/LatinContent/Getty Images))
NEW YORK, USA - APRIL 08: A general view inside Barclays Cneter during the game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on April 08, 2017 (Photo by William Volcov/Brazil Photo Press/LatinContent/Getty Images)) /
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The Brooklyn Nets embark on a long road trip in March, but it is December’s home-packed schedule that presents the biggest challenge for the emerging club.

Barclays Center has seldom felt like home, sweet home for the Brooklyn Nets.

Last season, Brooklyn posted their fourth consecutive losing record at home, going 14-25 at Barclays Center (two of their “home” games last season were in Mexico City, which were split 1-1).

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Even the last time the Nets made the playoffs in 2015, they had a losing record at home, going 19-22 both at Barclays Center and on the road.

When evaluating the 2018-19 schedule which was released Friday, it’s very easy to see March — with nine road games and just five home games, including a seven-game road trip from March 13-28 — as Brooklyn’s biggest challenge this season.

But when you won the same number of games on your own court as you did everywhere else on the planet last season, the true challenge for a team trying to take the next step in its rebuild is much closer to home.

Brooklyn, as stated earlier, was 14-25 at Barclays Center last seaason and 14-29 on road/neutral courts.

That was during a reasonably successful rebuilding season that saw an eight-victory improvement over 2016-17 despite enough injuries to open a new wing at Brooklyn Hospital Center.

In six seasons since leaving New Jersey for the borough, the Nets are just 115-131 at Barclays Center, with two winning seaasons — the first two (26-15 in 2012-13 an 28-13 in 2013-14).

In 2017-18, the Nets were tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the third-worst home record in the NBA, ahead of only the Sacramento Kings (14-27) and Phoenix Suns (10-31).

Their road record. while not outstanding, was tied with the Kings for 22nd in the NBA. The Nets had one fewer road win (13) than the playoff-bound San Antonio Spurs (14). The offset for San Antonio, of course, was the third-best home record in the NBA at 33-8.

That’s why, in terms of Brooklyn’s hoped-for improvement to possibly be a fringe playoff contender in 2018-19, December is the biggest challenge on the schedule.

Of their 15 games in December, a season-high nine are at home and the competition runs the gamut from contenders such as the Toronto Raptors, to playoff teams from a year ago in the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers.

There are also home games against the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns, the who-the-heck-knows-what-they-are-doing Charlotte Hornets and the re-invented Los Angeles Lakers.

The month also includes trips to Washngton, the knicks, Philadelphia, Chicago, Charlotte and Milwaukee.

Removing the Mexico City results from last season, a win over the Thunder and a loss to the Miami Heat, we’re left with the 39 games at Barclays Center.

The Nets were 3-4 in games decided by three points or less, 7-9 in games decided by 5-9 points and 4-12 in games that were decided by 10 points or more.

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    • Brooklyn dropped both games that went to overtime at home, a 114-113 loss to the Raptors on Jan. 8 and a 138-128 double-overtime loss to New Orleans on Feb. 10.

    Here is how their numbers at Barclays Center compared to their season numbers last season:

    • Field goal percentage: 43.6 percent (44.1 percent overall)
    • 3-point shooting: 35.9 percent (35.6 percent)
    • Points per game: 106.4 (106.6)
    • Opponent field goal percentage: 46.2 percent (46.6 percent)
    • Opponent 3-point shooting: 38.0 percent (36.9 percent)
    • Opponent points per game: 109.5 (110.3)

    Not exactly the home-court edge a team would hope for.

    To make a playoff push in 2018-19, the Nets will have to figure out how to take better advantage of their home court, which has not exactly been a “friendly confines” of late.

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    Brooklyn can set the tone for that in a big way by taking advantage of those nine home dates in December, setting a nice launch point into the 2019 portion of the schedule.