Nothin' But Nets
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Brooklyn Nets up and down in loss at Boston

By Jonathan Saponara

(Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
(Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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The Brooklyn Nets fell to the Boston Celtics 112-104 in Boston Monday night, but continued to battle against the Kyrie Irving-less Celtics.

The Brooklyn Nets dealt with some bad and also experienced some good moments while losing for the sixth straight time at TD Garden Monday night, dropping a 112-104 decision to the Boston Celtics.

The Bad

The Brooklyn Nets’ slew of injuries wasn’t enough to keep them from competing Monday night, but it seems like the injuries are starting to catch up to them.

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Injuries to Spencer Dinwiddie (thumb), Treveon Graham (back), Allen Crabbe (knee) and Caris LeVert (foot) have made it tougher on this Nets team eventually bound for the playoffs.

This has opened up opportunities for less-proven players that have shown flashes of being able to play at the NBA level like Theo Pinson, who didn’t deliver against the Celtics. The deeper the Nets have had to go with their bench, the more variability there seems to be.

After his 19-point performance against the New York Knicks Friday, Pinson struggled in his 25 minutes tonight, managing just three points.

While this performance isn’t what did the Nets in Monday night, there is absolutely no reason Pinson should log more minutes than D’Angelo Russell (24 minutes) in a Nets game this season, unless it’s an absolute blowout at halftime.

That decision is on coach Kenny Atkinson, as no player is averaging 30 minutes per game for the Nets this season. It still seems that Russell got it going in the third quarter as he was able to contribute 14 of his 25 points in that quarter.

In times where Russell is almost singlehandedly keeping the Nets in the game, Atkinson should move away from the normal rotation and push the hot-hand with the injury-riddled Nets.

The Good

The Brooklyn Nets received a valiant effort Shabazz Napier (20 points) and DeMarre Carroll (12 points, five rebounds, two steals) off their thin bench.

Napier’s 17-point first half kept the Nets in the game, showing that he can somewhat handle the “Dinwiddie-like” role while he recovers from Thumb surgery.

All three of the Nets bigs — Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jarrett Allen and Ed Davis — got busy on the offensive glass, grabbing a combined 13 offensive rebounds, translating to 29 second-chance points.

The brightest spot came from Mitch Creek (can we nickname him “The Creek Freak”?), who finally got his shot in the NBA, scoring six points and grabbing five rebounds in 19 minutes of work.

The shots just didn’t seem to fall for the Nets, as they were just 37.9 percent from the field, but sometimes to no fault of their own.

Next. 10 best Nets from 1st NBA decade (1976-86). dark

That happens in an 82-game season and the Nets must look forward as they have a quick turnaround time as the Chicago Bulls come to Brooklyn Tuesday night to face the Nets.