With the NBA going on hiatus — which NBA commissioner Adam Silver set as at least 30 days on Thursday — and New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, placing a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, no Brooklyn Nets games will be played for the time being.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight major individual performances and key developments throughout Nets history:
On March 15, 2016, Bojan Bogdanovic had an offensive performance he still has yet to replicate, even though his numbers have steadily increased since the Brooklyn Nets traded him away in the middle of the 2016-17 season.
Brooklyn’s starting lineup in this 2015-16 game against the Philadelphia 76ers was Bogdanovic, Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young, Wayne Ellington and Donald Sloan. The Sixers’ current general manager, Elton Brand, was coming off the bench for head coach Brett Brown.
There wasn’t a whole lot of defense played in this one, which worked out just fine for the Nets as they walked away with a 131-114 win (full box score).
No one took greater advantage of the offensive tone to the game than Bogdanovic. He went off for a career-high 44 points — a mark he has yet to top. The forward finished 17-for-27 from the floor (4-for-9 from deep) and grabbed eight rebounds.
“I started the game with a couple of easy free throws, easy buckets on the fast break. I had 15 or 17 after the first quarter,” Bogdanovic said after the win. “So I realized that tonight is maybe my night to get a career-high in the NBA.
“I tried (for 50), but then I missed a couple of shots and then I was like 40 is good too.”
Lopez and Young each had a double-double. Lopez finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Young scored 14 points and ripped down 16 boards.