3. Caris LeVert had a great game, with some issues
Caris LeVert had everyone excited during training camp with his explosiveness on the offensive end. Teammates were saying that no one could guard LeVert during the early workouts and he followed that up with a solid performance in the opening loss to the Knicks.
On Monday, LeVert had another strong outing with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 1-of-3 from deep, to go with nine rebounds and eight assists.
King James Gospel
But LeVert also showed a nagging tendency to get himself caught in the air with nowhere to go with the ball, something that directly resulted in three of his six turnovers on the night.
The Nets turned it over 20 times in all on Monday, compared to just eight turnovers for Detroit, which had a 23-6 edge in points off those miscues.
But Brooklyn’s defense saved the day, holding Detroit to 36.3 percent shooting. That allowed the Nets to win despite the Pistons getting 18 more field goal attempts.
The Pistons were 41-for-113 in the game, while Brooklyn shot much better than it did against the New York Knicks last week, hitting 44-of-95 in the game (46.3 percent).
LeVert’s efforts on the defensive glass helped Brooklyn outboard the Pistons 71-61 on the night and his driving and penetrating played a big role in the Nets’ huge 60-38 edge in points in the paint.
The biggest challenge for LeVert is to play under control. He can make plays — the eight assists bear that out — but he has to avoid getting caught off the floor. Few good things happen when a player jumps with the basketball without a real plan what he’s going to do with the orange.