Tonight: The 26-18 Brooklyn Nets come home after a four-game road trip to take on the 14-29 Orlando Magic, at 7:30 P.M. EST at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Nets dropped their final two games on the road to the Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets in embarrassing fashion, losing by 24 and 13 points, respectively. The Magic have lost five straight games, all to sub-.500 teams, and have earned the dreaded last-place slot in NBA.com’s weekly NBA power rankings.
Watch & Listen: Tonight’s game is broadcast on YES Network. Ian Eagle and Greg Anthony are on the call. The game is also broadcast nationally on NBA TV. The game is radio simulcast on WFAN, and in Spanish on WADO.
More on tonight’s matchup, including injuries, lineups and advanced statistics, after the jump.
Out: For the Nets, Tornike Shengelia, recently recalled from the Springfield Armor, is out indefinitely with concussion symptoms. For the Magic, Al Harrington is out. Arron Afflalo is also out after leaving Sunday night’s game against Detroit with a sore right calf.
Starting Lineups:
Orlando Magic: Jameer Nelson, J.J. Redick, Maurice Harkless, Glen Davis, Nikola Vucevic (2 minutes, +/- 0 per 100 possessions)
Brooklyn Nets: Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Reggie Evans, Brook Lopez (201 minutes, +/- +6.4 per 100 possessions)
Advanced Statistics:
Orlando Magic: 100.9 offensive rating (19th), 104.6 defensive rating (24th), 93.88 possessions per game (17th)
Brooklyn Nets: 104.5 offensive rating (9th), 103.7 defensive rating (19th), 90.61 possessions per game (29th)
You read that right: The Orlando Magic starting lineup of Nelson, Redick, Harkless, Davis, and Vucevic has played all of two minutes together all year.
Fan night: Organized by some of those tireless folks over at NetsDaily, tonight is Brook Lopez Appreciation Night, where Brooklyn Nets fans are coming out to Barclays Center to show support for their All-Star snubbed center in the midst of the best season of his career.
Lopez ranks fourth in the NBA with a 25.41 PER.
Go Nets!
It’s Brook Lopez Appreciation Night. (AP)
