Tag: nic claxton

Rodions Kurucs assigned to Long Island Nets

After playing each of Brooklyn’s first seven games, Rodions Kurucs only made one appearance on the Nets’ five-game road trip.

After a tumultuous offseason in which he was dealing with issues off the court, Rodions Kurucs has struggled on the floor for the Brooklyn Nets to start the 2019-20 season. The forward was part of the Nets rotation throughout the first seven games, but did not play when Brooklyn made the trip to Portland.

Over the course of the five-game road trip, Kurucs only saw time in the blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns.

With Kurucs not seeing the floor for Brooklyn, the team has assigned Kurucs to its G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, ahead of their game against the Windy City Bulls on Sunday.

Last year, Kurucs appeared in 63 games for Brooklyn, averaging 8.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game on 20.5 minutes a night. He started in 46 of the games he played in for Brooklyn.

Along with Kurucs’ slow start, the emergence of Nets rookie Nic Claxton throughout the road trip may have had an impact on the second-year forward losing time. While Claxton first received minutes as a result of DeAndre Jordan’s sprained ankle, the rookie continues to receive time even though the veteran big man has returned to the floor.

RELATED: WATCH: Nic Claxton starts Nets fastbreak, finishes it emphatically

Spencer Dinwiddie leads Nets past Bulls in final game of road trip

Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris came up big for the Brooklyn Nets in Saturday’s win over the Chicago Bulls.

After jumping out to a comfortable 30-19 first-quarter lead, the Brooklyn Nets started to slip against the Chicago Bulls, trailing 50-56 at the half. The Bulls still held a four-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to get past Spencer Dinwiddie and the Nets, who finished their road trip with a 117-111 win in Chicago.

Dinwiddie entered the fourth quarter with only four points to his name, but finished the night with 24 on 5 of 11 shooting, while knocking down 14 of his 15 free-throw attempts. The point guard started in place of the injured Kyrie Irving, who was out due to a right shoulder impingement.

Dinwiddie’s 20 fourth-quarter points are the most he’s ever scored in an individual quarter in his career. He also set the bar for most points scored by a Nets player in any quarter this season.

Joe Harris also exploded offensively, scoring 22 points on 8 of 15 shooting — though he wasn’t at his best from long-range, finishing 2-for-8.

Harris also dished out eight assists without turning the ball over once.

Each of the other three Nets starters finished in double-figures, as well. Taurean Prince had 13 points, Garrett Temple scored 12 and Jarrett Allen had 11. However, Prince and Temple weren’t consistent with their shots, finishing 4-for-13 and 4-for-12 from the floor, respectively.

Theo Pinson provided a lift off the bench with his 10-point performance (4-for-9 shooting).

DeAndre Jordan grabbed seven rebounds, eclipsing the 9,000 career rebounds mark in the process. Allen and Dzanan Musa each grabbed seven rebounds, as well. Jordan also blocked four shots.

Iman Shumpert made his Brooklyn Nets debut on Saturday. He scored five points on 2-for-4 shooting and had three rebounds in 12 minutes of action.

WATCH: Nic Claxton starts Nets fastbreak, finishes it emphatically

Nets rookie Nic Claxton did everything he could to provide Brooklyn with a lift in the first half against the Chicago Bulls.

After jumping out to an early lead over the Chicago Bulls, the Brooklyn Nets saw their lead slip away in the second quarter. Chicago eventually took a double-digit lead, but the Nets cut it to six points by the half.

Almost everyone made costly mistakes for Brooklyn in the first two quarters, leading to the deficit. However, there were some who provided the Nets with a lift, minimizing the gap to six points at halftime.

Among those who did well was Nic Claxton. He wasn’t originally part of Brooklyn’s regular rotations to start the season, but ever since DeAndre Jordan missed a game due to an ankle sprain, the Nets rookie has had his number called on multiple occasions.

And Claxton continues to take advantage of the opportunities he’s been given.

Going into the half, Claxton had six points to his name on 3-for-5 shooting (0-for-3 from three). The rookie also had two rebounds in his 10 minutes — one of which led to this emphatic slam: