Brooklyn Nets: Rodions Kurucs road trip of woes

Brooklyn Nets rookie Rodions Kurucs, who had been so reliable since the All-Star break, seemed to have hit his rookie wall over the Nets 7-game road trip

After a strong stretch of games, Rodions Kurucs seemed to have hit a bit of a rookie wall while on the Brooklyn Nets recent road trip, a road trip that spanned over two weeks, all four time zones and included six playoff-caliber teams.

The road trip was tough, to say the least, and while a few players thrived, others seemed to struggle. And one of those that appeared to struggle was Rodions Kurucs.

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Before the Nets embarked on their massive road trip Kurucs was coming off arguably his best stretch of games on the season. Brooklyn had a four-game winning streak and Rodions was a key factor in those wins.

Over those games, Rodions averaged 14.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He shot 64 percent from the field and 61 percent from 3-point range. In the game against Dallas, which started the winning streak, Rodions had 19 points and hit five 3s.

There seemed to be a looseness to his game and energy that helped fuel the team.

His activity on the defensive end is something that really stood out, especially in the Detroit game, a game in which he was matched up with Blake Griffin and held him to an abysmal 1-for-10 shooting performance.

Since that time, however, Kurucs seems to be struggling. Throughout the road trip, Rodi didn’t seem to play with the same energy or crispness that we had become accustomed to. His worst game of the trip was easily the Clippers game.

He was in foul trouble all game and ended up fouling out in only 13 minutes. Over the seven-game trip he averaged five points and four rebounds per game. In fpur of the games he shot under 30 percent from the field and had only four assists throughout the seven games.

Rodi also failed to hit double digits in scoring in any of the seven games and even went scoreless in 23 minutes against Philadelphia, which was the final game of the road trip.

Although Rodions was on the court during the Nets’ historic comeback against the Kings he only scored six points in 33 minutes.

Recently the Nets inserted DeMarre Carroll into the starting rotation at the 4 spot. The move from the 4 to the 3 in the starting rotation may have something to do with Rodions’ recent struggles. Even though the Nets are finally home the season doesn’t get any easier.

Their final six games are all against playoff-bound teams who are also fighting for playoff position in the East. They’re going to need all hands on deck if they want to secure a playoff berth for the first time in four years.