Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from an Indiana thrashing

Young players will have games like this. After two strong performances to open the season, Jarrett Allen just didn’t play well Saturday night.

Offensively, he was too quick to come off his screens, sometimes just sort of running by the man he was picking instead of stopping, letting the play develop and then finding a lane to roll.

By not setting the pick properly, the ball handler wasn’t getting space to come off the pick and the roll lane never opened because the Pacers didn’t have to make a decision on whether to switch or not.

He played in a hurry on both ends, jumping too quickly for rebounds — particularly in the first half — and Myles Turner outplayed him in a matchup of recent one-and-done centers from the University of Texas.

I’d look for a bounce-back game from Allen in Cleveland after he gets a look at the video from Saturday night.

Ed Davis was his usual rebounding self on Saturday night, but against ranging big men Myles Turner and Kyle O’Quinn, he struggled defensively as he was asked to leave his comfort zone down low and go out and guard on the perimeter.

Turner and O’Quinn combined for 30 points and 16 rebounds on 11-of-19 shooting as Davis and Jarrett Allen both had trouble adjusting to having to come out and challenge them after playing against traditional bigs in Andre Drummond and Enes Kanter in the first two games.

Davis’ turnover was a familiar one — a moving screen, something he seems to do at least once a night. Freedom of movement is a point of emphasis for officials. Every player knows it, but Davis is having some difficulties adjusting as a screener.