Check out the advanced box score from last night’s 119-106 Brooklyn Nets loss to the Houston Rockets here
A few takeaways after the jump:
- James Harden: 29 points on 15 shots, nine fouls drawn, a steal, a block, seven assists, a .685 true shooting percentage… and zero turnovers. Unreal. There were about thirteen reasons why the Rockets spanked the Nets last night, but James Harden was number one.
- Weirdly enough, Harden was a -1 on the game, meaning the Rockets actually got outscored when Harden was on the floor. Look who was a +28: Chandler Parsons. Now certainly that difference isn’t an accurate representation of how they helped their respective teams tonight (and there’s a joke about Harden scoring 29 and Parsons beating Harden in +/- by 29 that I can’t put together right now), but Parsons was excellent: he hit his open shots and was often the player firing the final pass in a string of passes around the perimeter to find a teammate for an open shot. Make no mistake: Parsons is a very effective player and was a big reason the Nets didn’t win this one.
- As mentioned last night, Asik got free for so many little shots around the rim because of a porous lack of help defense that he put up 20 points and shot his highest FG% in a game with at least ten shots this season. But his true shooting percentage was actually far below his effective field goal percentage, which is rare. Know why? Asik shot 2-6 from the line, and looked awful shooting those free throws. When the game got within 8, Hack-Asik may not have been the worst move.
- That’s enough glowing about the Rockets. Outside of Lopez & D-Will, the Nets sorely lacked for consistent contributors, and even Williams was a shell of his first-quarter self after scoring 20 points in the first 12 minutes. Reggie Evans was invisible. Ditto for Gerald Wallace outside of a few minutes in the third quarter when he looked like first-half-of-the-season Gerald Wallace again. Joe Johnson began hitting shots when the game was already falling out of hand. This is not an all-around effort that will end with the Nets winning basketball games.
- Yes, Mirza Teletovic hit a few shots, but I’m worried Nets fans are going to get Kobeitis with Mirza, and only see the shots he makes. He still missed more shots than he made, and though he wasn’t bad by any stretch — he was fine — he’s not an immediate difference-maker. (It would be nice to see him play more, though).
