Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from a grind-it-out win at Miami

6 of 6

SF. Brooklyn Nets. DEMARRE CARROLL. A-. 16 MIN, 11 PTS, 3-for-5 (2-for-3), 3 REB, 1 PF, 1 STL, 1 TO, +3

DeMarre Carroll isn’t usually the guy one thinks of when you think of instant offense, but it was what he gave the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

Carroll had his best shooting performance since coming back from ankle surgery, hitting 3-of-5, knocking down a couple of 3s and scoring 11 points in just 16 minutes.

Throw in his usual solid defense and Carroll had a very good night at the office, even if the time was shorter than it had been the last few games.

Carroll’s been back for seven games now and after Tuesday is averaging 9.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game and improved his shooting line to .354/.320/.885.

One skill Carroll has down to a science — with the NBA tightening its definition of continuation fouls, Carroll still does a great job of turning fouls into shooting fouls.

9 MIN, 6 PTS, 3-for-5 (0-for-1), 1 REB (1 ORB), 1 AST, 1 PF, -11. PG/SG. Brooklyn Nets. SHABAZZ NAPIER. B

Shabazz Napier did a nice job of knocking down the looks he got Tuesday. scoring six points in just nine minutes.

Defensively, Napier was a bad matchup against Miami, which has a collection of big guards that are tough covers for the 6-foot-1 Napier. Accordingly, he had some struggles at that end of the floor that likely led to his reduced minutes load.

Next. 10 best Nets from 4th NBA decade (2006-16). dark

He still has a lot of value to the Nets because he can run the point and when he heats up, he can carry a team for short stretches.