Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from gut-check win at Chicago

Spencer Dinwiddie dropped a game-high 27 points — his NBA-leading seventh game off the bench with at least 25 points — and made up for a critical late error at the offensive end with a game-saving defensive play.

Dinwiddie was efficient at the offensive end, even as he didn’t quite keep the ball moving as much as the Brooklyn Nets would like. Part of that, however, was what Chicago was doing with its double-team blitzes off high pick-and-roll sets and part was attributable just to the slow pace.

He’s certainly emerging as a contender for the Sixth Man of the Year award, particularly if the Nets keep winning, but one could make a compelling case that he should get consideration — again — for Most Improved Player as well.

An average performance from D’Angelo Russell, who had to be experiencing at least a bit of a letdown after helping the Brooklyn Nets to an emotional victory at home over Russell’s former team.

He didn’t shoot the 3 particularly well and ran into the same issues as did Dinwiddie with ball movement against a feisty, physical Chicago Bulls defense.

Russell is a big point guard — something you can forget until you see him tower over a player such as Ryan Arcidiacono on a low-post backdown — but he seemed a bit bothered at times by the physicality of the game. His game is styled on control and pace rather than brute force.