D’Angelo Russell had a terrific start, scoring 10 points in the first 7:13 of the game on 4-of-6 shooting.
It was just the rest of the game where things went off the rails for the fourth-year point guard.
Russell was just 1-for-10 with two points the remainder of the game and his defensive work against Quinn Cook, a reserve starting in place of injured Stephen Curry, left Cook far too many wide-open looks.
Cook made the Nets pay for those looks, scoring 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first half before finishing with a season-high 27 points on the night.
On one hand, Spencer Dinwiddie gave the Brooklyn Nets offense a spark with his work in isolation, getting to the basket and converting shots.
On the other hand, Dinwiddie also helped the Nets offense grind to a halt because his work in isolation effectively shut off the ball movement that helped Brooklyn to an early lead.
With his combination of handles and length, Dinwiddie is a load for most guards to defend. With his quickness, bigger defenders struggle to contain him off the bounce.
But Dinwiddie suffered just a bit of tunnel vision Saturday night, so locked in after having a bigger, slower defender switch to cover him that getting to the rim came at the cost of the ball sticking in place.
That’s not to say Dinwiddie didn’t distribute well — he did have a team-high six assists — and he was efficient shooting the ball at 5-for-9.
It can be a difficult balance to achieve and in this game, Brooklyn did not achieve it.