Tag: Markieff Morris

Player grades: Kevin Durant scores 39 as Nets beat Wizards

Here’s how the Nets graded in their 113-107 win over the Washington Wizards.

The Brooklyn Nets hosted the Washington Wizards on Wednesday and won 113-107 to move above .500 for the season. This game was much closer than the first game of this regular-season series and that was because of the Wizards being essentially full strength outside of missing Rui Hachimura and Delon Wright.

Kevin Durant had 39 points (13-20 from the field) and five assists for the Nets and Kyrie Irving had 27 points and five assists. Joe Harris had his three-point shot going in this game as he went 4-6 from three-point land to help him get to 14 points.

Kristaps Porzingis had 27 points and 19 rebounds for the Wizards while Bradley Beal had 25 points five rebounds. Kyle Kuzma also had 25 points and four rebounds to help the Wizards make a game out of this one.

In a tightly fought contest all the way through, the Nets were able to win this because of how well they shot from the three-point line (42.3%) and the free-throw line (92.3%). The Wizards shot 25% from three-point land and 67.6% from the charity stripe and that appeared to be the difference in this game.

Despite out-rebounding the Nets 51-35 and outscoring Brooklyn in the paint 58-32, the Wizards were unable to stop the Nets on defense. Here are the Nets’ player grades for this win:

Nets player grades: Buddy Hield scores 26 to lead Pacers past Nets

The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers 128-117 on Friday as Buddy Hield scored 26 points. Here’s how each player graded individually.

The Brooklyn Nets visited the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday and lost 128-117. The Pacers had four players score at least 20 points against the Nets’ porous defense.

Kevin Durant scored 36 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter, and collected 9 rebounds while Ben Simmons scored 20 points and had six rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Kyrie Irving scored 20 points while struggling with his three-point shot.

Indiana’s Buddy Hield had 26 points, including five threes, to lead the Pacers in scoring while Myles Turner had 23 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Tyrese Haliburton had 21 points and 15 assists while Bennedict Mathurin had 20 points off the bench.

Indiana pulled away in the fourth quarter thanks to Mathurin scoring 16 points in the period while Brooklyn struggled to score down the stretch. The Nets had 19 turnovers to led to 21 points for Indiana and Brooklyn struggled to defend without fouling as they allowed Indiana to shoot 38 free-throws.

Here are the Nets player grades as the teams falls to 9-11:

Player Grades: Kyrie Irving drops 29, Nets beat short-handed Raptors

Grading the Nets individually after a road win over the Raptors.

The Brooklyn Nets visited the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday and won 112-98. Brooklyn is now 9-10 going into the holiday break and lead the regular-season series with Toronto 2-0.

Kyrie Irving scored 29 points (19 in the third quarter) and had three assists while Nic Claxton had 14 points and 12 rebounds. For Toronto, Gary Trent Jr. had 19 points and OG Anunoby scored 15 points.

The Nets did a much better job in this game than they did against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday. Against the Raptors, Brooklyn defended the three-point line much better and with better effort despite being out-rebounded 52-39 and turning the ball over 21 times.

In the end, the Nets pulled away in the third quarter behind Irving’s masterful performance and Toronto going ice-cold from the field. Here are the Nets’ player grades:

Nets player grades: Ben Simmons, Nets beat Grizzlies in Kyrie Irving’s return

Grading every Nets player after a 127-115 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

The Brooklyn Nets came back home from a four-game west coast road trip to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday and won 127-115.

Nets superstar Kevin Durant scored 26 points to continue his streak of games with at least 25 points while guard Ben Simmons showed off his all-around skill set with 22 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Kyrie Irving, back from a team-imposed suspension, scored 14 points.

Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks had 31 points on 30 shots and center Steven Adams had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Memphis was short-handed for this game as they were missing Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr.

This game was back-and-forth through three quarters as not much defense was played by either team. The Nets ran away with the game when they opened the fourth quarter with a 18-5 run that the Grizzlies couldn’t stop with Brooks as the only guy who could create his own shot. Nets center Nic Claxton missed Sunday’s game for personal reasons.

The Nets had a dazzling performance to pull away from the Memphis Grizzlies and here are the Nets player grades:

New details emerge of players-only meeting Nets had about Ben Simmons

There have been more details emerging on the players-only meeting the Brooklyn Nets had about Ben Simmons.

Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons has been one of the hottest talking points when discussing the Nets. According to Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic, the team had a players-only meeting on Oct. 29 to discuss Simmons and what is expected of him.

What was reported at the time, as told by Simmons, was that the team had a players-only meeting and not much detail was provided after that. The Athletic has since provided more information.

On the day in question, the Nets had lost at home to the Indiana Pacers to drop to 1-5 on the season. Also, guard Kyrie Irving had been asked by the media after he dropped a game-high 35 points to explain his decision to tweet a link to a movie filled with antisemitic material.

Since then, things have only gotten worse for the Nets. Irving was soon suspended by the Nets for his comments as well as not apologizing for the tweet, but has since been reinstated for a return. On the other hand, Simmons has either been out of the lineup or has been underperforming when active.

The Athletic sums up what was said in the meeting with regard to Simmons:

“The team’s level of exasperation toward Simmons bubbled to the surface when they met after a loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Veteran forward Markieff Morris spoke in front of the team about how they need Simmons to succeed and that he has to respond when he deals with adversity on the court.

Simmons appeared to take Morris’ words in stride and was responsive and attentive throughout, sources said.”

Simmons has been through a lot in the past few years, but the Nets need him to be at his best sooner than later with the way this season is going.

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Player Grades: Anthony Davis leads Lakers to home win over Kevin Durant, Nets

The Brooklyn Nets visited the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday at Crypto.com arena for the first of two meetings this season.

The Brooklyn Nets visited the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena for the first of two meetings this season. The Nets lost 116-103 and were unable to complete their comeback bid as the team faltered during the fourth quarter.

Nets forward Kevin Durant had a stellar game with 31 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, but was unable to get somebody to come along for the ride against the Lakers. Nets guard Cam Thomas had 15 points off the bench and guard Edmond Sumner netted 13 points.

Lakers forward Anthony Davis had a monster game with 37 points (season-high) and grabbed 18 rebounds (10 offensive which tied his career-high in the regular season). Davis was big for the Lakers in the third quarter as he scored 15 of his 37 points during the period. Lakers guard Lonnie Walker IV scored 25 points.

This game came down to the second half as Brooklyn was able to rally from 16 points down with a little under four minutes left in the third quarter to a four-point game with a little over 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter before the Lakers ran away with the game.

Brooklyn center Nic Claxton left the game in the third quarter with a left eye injury and did not return to the game. Guard Seth Curry (ankle injury management) did not play and guard/forward Ben Simmons (left knee soreness) did not play either.

The Nets next play at the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Here are the player grades for Sunday’s game:

Markieff Morris to play important role for Nets this season

Veteran Markieff Morris will be a vital member of the Nets organization and spoke on what he prepares to bring for the team.

Even though the attention for media day was mostly focused on the drama between Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets organization, we did hear some on how to franchise would utilize certain players, namely Markieff Morris.

Morris believes that he brings a level of toughness and physicality to the team, and his role will be vital.

“Yeah, I agree with what [Kevin Durant] said,” Morris said Tuesday at Nets training camp. “They were soft, just point-blank period. When we played up against them, they were soft. Just go right in their chest. That’s what we did,” Morris continued. “Just go out there and play hard, knock somebody on the ground. Kick them in their ass, see if they’ll get up. Then you’ll know.”

Nets insider Alex Schiffer of The Athletic reports that he looks great during training camp and was told that Morris would be playing the five, by Steve Nash.

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Markieff Morris had a hilarious take on the Nets’ Kevin Durant-Steve Nash offseason drama

Player-coach relationships in the NBA are similar to husband-wife relationships, according to Morris.

Media days are in the books and training camps are underway. In other words, the NBA season is here. These events and the ensuing access to players have produced content for us in the basketball community to have fun with as things get going.

Some all-time great soundbites have come from the media day/training camp player availability — I’m specifically thinking about Kawhi Leonard’s iconic laugh back in 2018.

Each year has its standout, and so far in 2022, I’m rolling with Brooklyn Nets forward Markieff Morris as the winner.

Listen to him try and explain the Kevin Durant-Steve Nash offseason drama through the lens of an NBA guy:

“Break up with a girlfriend and you get back with her. (It’s the) same [expletive]. Air your differences until you figure it out. I broke up with my wife a couple times. We still married.”

Whether you can actually relate to Keef’s words or not is relative to your relationship history, but we all definitely understand what he’s getting at.

It’s just one of the many random and unexpected things you might hear this time of year on the NBA calendar.

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Report: Joe Tsai personally recruited Markieff Morris

Marc Stein on why Joe Tsai worked hard to bring in Markieff Morris.

Even though the Brooklyn Nets front office struggled over this offseason, the franchise signed Markieff Morris and apparently really value his contribution to the team.

According to Marc Stein, Joe Tsai made a personal pitch to the veteran forward. Stein wrote “it should be noted that the Nets considered the Morris signing as sufficiently significant that I’m told Nets owner Joe Tsai made a personal recruiting pitch to the 33-year-old. The Nets were desperate to add a veteran who could command the respect of stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and believe Morris has the gravitas to speak up when necessary like he did in Los Angeles alongside James and Davis.”

Morris joins the team in the hope to bring players from the roster together. He is a veteran offensive talent with tenacity on the defensive side of the ball.

Morris will definitely make an impact on the Nets roster as the team tries to make a playoff push.

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Nets to sign veteran free agent Markieff Morris to a 1-year deal

The Brooklyn Nets have agreed to a 1-year deal with Markieff Morris.

The Brooklyn Nets are currently in the process of trying to get their team ready to go for another championship run in the 2022-23 season as they now have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving back in the fold. Considering the talent on the roster, they now just needed to improve the depth.

They have had a solid offseason in terms of additions, the Durant saga aside, and they continued to add to their roster on Tuesday as they will bring in veteran Markieff Morris on a 1-year deal.

Morris only played 17 games for the Miami Heat in the 2021-22 season due to whiplash he suffered in an altercation with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, but when healthy, he can be a big help to the Nets. He won a title in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Morris has career averages of 10.9 points and 5.2 rebounds and he will be looking to be a big help to Brooklyn’s bench unit as they contiue to put together a championship-caliber roster.

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