Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from relatively stress-free win over Pelicans

Rodions Kurucs did his best Jarrett Allen impression in the fourth quarter, swatting away a shot attempt at the rim from Anthony Davis, and made lots of little plays to help the Brooklyn Nets secure the win Wednesday.

Kurucs knocked down a couple of 3-pointers with confidence, had a nifty putback off the glass and came out of nowhere to deny Davis during the New Orleans Pelicans’ fourth-quarter push.

There were rookie mistakes along the way — the indecision between “do I dunk or do I lay it in” that ended up with Kurucs airmailing a wide-open bunny over the rim was one of them.

The Flagrant 1 he picked up in the third quarter was not one of those rookie mistakes, however.

While it was unfortunate for Pelicans forward E’Twaun Moore that his nose happened to be where Kurucs was trying to move his arms as he gathered the ball for a shot, it would not be at all surprising to see the NBA downgrade that to a common foul upon review.

It was an aggressive move to the basket, yes. Was it an unnecessary move? That one was hard to justify.

Spencer Dinwiddie made Frank Jackson look like a kid who didn’t read the scouting report on one sequence. Jackson closed aggressively on Dinwiddie at the 3-point line … and left Dinwiddie’s right side unguarded.

Mistake and big mistake, as Dinwiddie blew by for a two-handed dunk with Jackson left in his vapor trail.

Dinwiddie also knocked down a couple of 3s, but New Orleans’ size inside did create some problems when Dinwiddie probed inside without the benefit of a switch up top.

He canned all six of his free throws — Dinwiddie’s been a little inconsistent at the line of late — and took on all comers defensively, even finding himself matched up with Anthony Davis on the low block on one sequence. Tough gig, that.