Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from another homecourt loss to Cavaliers

The rebounding wizardry of Ed Davis was in full effect once again, as he yanked down 10 boards in just 16 minutes and is averaging 8.1 rebounds in just 16.8 minutes per game this season.

Per 36 minutes, Davis is rebounding at a career-best 17.4 boards, including a whopping 7.1 on the offensive glass.

That said, he got a bit out of control on a Shabazz Napier drive to the rim, shoving Collin Sexton from behind and negating Napier’s make.

In a two-point loss, that looms sort of large.

The Brooklyn Nets were trailing by eight points with less than two minutes to go in the third quarter when coach Kenny Atkinson finally turned to rookie Rodions Kurucs.

The second-round pick provided such a jolt to the struggling Nets that Atkinson couldn’t take him off the floor. Instead, Kurucs played the entire fourth period, scoring eight points and getting a game-tying putback with 18.9 seconds left.

Afterward, Atkinson told the press, via Brian Lewis of the New York Post, that Kurucs was “in the conversation for more minutes.”

Kurucs delivers positive results nearly every time he’s on the floor. So how long a conversation does this really need to be?

In 110 minutes over nine games, Kurucs is a plus-29. I’m not a huge believer in plus/minus stats, but in the context of a team that has been outscored by 61 points in 25 games, a guy who is plus-29 is fairly anomalous and is at least worthy of more study.

As in, play the kid already!