Brooklyn Nets forward Royce O’Neale has been through a lot of different scenarios during his first season with the franchise. He went from being a starter during the part of the season that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were on the team to being a backup after the two superstars were traded.
However, in Wednesday’s 123-108 win over the Detroit Pistons, O’Neale had to deal with a different situation once again. O’Neale was named the starter right before tipoff because starting forward Dorian Finney-Smith was ruled out prior to the start of the game because of a nagging wrist injury. O’Neale had to find a way to shift his mindset in a matter of minutes.
He played admirably as he dropped 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-9 shooting from three-point land and also picked up seven rebounds, eight assists, and two blocks. O’Neale did everything that he was asked to do and more trying to fill the void of Finney-Smith. O’Neale was a pivotal piece in Brooklyn’s win and he spoke after the game about his mindset coming into the contest:
“Right before the game (when he found out that he was starting). I mean, I always say, whether I’m starting or coming off the bench, you know, my game’s not going to change. Do whatever I have to do to impact the game for us to win. Whether play-making, scoring, just playing defense, anything. So I mean, starting or not, that’s who I am.”
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