Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has had to deal with a lot of change ever since Kyrie Irving requested a trade on Friday. Instead of being able to coach Irving and Kevin Durant, he is now coaching Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, Mikal Bridges, and Cameron Johnson.
In Saturday’s 101-98 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Bridges and Johnson made their debuts for Brooklyn and both of them played reasonably well considering their circumstances and the competition. The Nets played well through three quarters, but this game was lost for Brooklyn in the fourth quarter. While the Nets scored at least 22 points in each quarter, they scored only 16 points in the fourth quarter while the 76ers scored 25 points.
Brooklyn scored only two points in the last 6:52 of the game as the Nets found it hard to manufacture any rhythm down the stretch. It looks like this could be the new life for Vaughn since he doesn’t have a superstar to turn to for buckets late in games. With that being said, Vaughn said after the game what he thought about the debuts of Bridges and Johnson:
“Just overall, their spirit about competing. Whether it’s their concentration level in the huddles, whether there’s communication out on the floor, they’ve given us a taste of what they can bring. The ability to make shots, to defend, to run the floor. So, a lot of versatility from both of them.”
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