Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from a 4th straight win in Phoenix

The Brooklyn Nets put together their best defensive game on more than a year in beating the Phoenix Suns to start their 4-game Western road trip.

With their newfound defensive prowess, the Brooklyn Nets have discovered a way to win on nights when they aren’t shooting well — make the opponent shoot ever worse.

The Nets shot just 44.6 percent overall on Tuesday night (41-for-92) and were just 9-for-36 (25 percent) from 3-point range, but beat the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena for the fourth straight season by holding the Suns to just 34.6 percent shooting in a 104-82 victory.

For the second straight game, the Nets won by more than 20 points, their first such streak since doing it three straight games in January 2013, The 82 points were the fewest the Nets have surrendered since April 2017.

And, for a second straight game, Brooklyn won the turnover battle by a large margin. Phoenix committed 20 turnovers to just 10 for the Nets, leading to a 21-9 advantage on points off those miscues. Against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, the turnover margin was 28-9.

Brooklyn outrebounded the Suns 52-49, held Phoenix without an offensive rebound in the first quarter en route to a 13-9 advantage and limited the Suns to 30 points in the paint on 15-of-34 shooting from that area.

The Nets did not get Rodions Kurucs or Kenneth Faried off the bench and when DeMarre Carroll was ruled out, that left Brooklyn with five inactives. Besides Carroll, who is still recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle, Treveon Graham remains out with a strained left hamstring.

Meanwhile, Dzanan Musa, Alan Williams and Theo Pinson are all with the Long Island Nets of the G League.

Here are the player grades from Brooklyn’s second straight win, their first back-to-back victories of the season.