Brooklyn Nets forward Royce O’Neale has had to deal with a good amount of adversity since the NBA trade deadline passed. Not only did he go from being a starter to coming off the bench, he has also had to deal with getting fewer quality shots thanks to the dynamic of the team changing.
However, in Friday’s 115-105 win over the Boston Celtics, O’Neale scored 10 points to help Brooklyn come back from a 28-point deficit to beat the Celtics for the first time this season. He did not shoot particularly well (4-of-11 from the field, 1-of-6 from three-point land), but his impact was felt beyond the box score.
In 34 minutes, O’Neale had a plus/minus of +14 which tied him with Dorian Finney-Smith and Seth Curry for the highest plus/minus on the team. O’Neale grabbed six rebounds, had 3 assists, and played solid defense on Jayson Tatum and Al Horford during the epic comeback. O’Neale reacted to the comeback win after the game:
“It’s big time. I mean, we got a new group, had to find our mojo. Putting a bunch of new guys together, it’s gonna take time, and I think just us building on this and just taking it one game at a time. That’s what we got to do and I think just us believing in each other, staying together.”
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