Brooklyn Nets: 5 takeaways from smackdown at Golden State

1. Steph who? Cook sizzles as fill-in

The Golden State Warriors entered Saturday’s game without the services of the NBA’s leading scorer, Stephen Curry, whose 29.5 points per game are currently sidelined by a strained left groin.

But former undrafted free agent Quinn Cook made that little detail unimportant, going off for a season-high 27 points and five assists in his first start of the season.

Cook hit his first seven shots while scoring 19 points in the first half as the Warriors build a 65-53 lead.

He finished 11-for-16, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range, and added to a resume as a starter that might make some team want to think about pursuing him in that role (looking at you, Phoenix Suns).

That’s because Cook — who joined the Warriors in October 2017 on a two-way contract — has now made 19 career starts for the Warriors. In those games, he’s averaging 15.3 points and 4.0 assists per game and shooting .507/.478/.864.

Those shooting splits are positively Curryian, which is fitting as Cook is the only player in the history of the NBA G League to post the vaunted 50/40/90 shooting line, turning the trick last season for the Santa Cruz Warriors by shooting .524/.437/.950 while averaging 25.3 points per game.

The Brooklyn defense lost track of Cook far too often, as many of his looks were uncontested. That proved to be one of the several fatal errors the Nets made on this Saturday night.