Nets blow out Wizards to spoil Spencer Dinwiddie’s return
Super Spencer Dinwiddie did not walk through the Barclays Center doors.
The Nets hosted the Wizards on Monday night in Dinwiddie’s first game in Brooklyn since his season-ending ACL tear as a member of the Nets at the start of last season. He was subsequently traded to the Wizards this offseason after Brooklyn opted against giving him a lucrative contract extension.
Yet while revenge is a dish best served cold, it was not on the menu in Brooklyn. The Nets spoiled Dinwiddie’s return, which was highlighted by a pair of side-step threes and a video tribute at the beginning of the second quarter, with a 104-90 win over his Wizards. Dinwiddie finished with just 10 points and six assists on just 3-of-13 shooting from the field. He blew by a Nets defender before blowing an easy layup for his final shot of the night.
Meanwhile, his replacement Patty Mills lit it up for Brooklyn in the first half with 11 early points. Mills used a jab step to send Wizards point guard Aaron Holiday stumbling before hitting a side-step 3 to close the second quarter. In the fourth, he blew by Dinwiddie for a fading baseline midrange two that extended Brooklyn’s lead out to 17.
“He’s a winner,” Steve Nash said of Mills. “He plays the right way, he’s experienced. Obviously he’s skilled, but he just brings a great feel to the game, with, without the ball.
“And defensively, he makes our team communicate better. He organizes us both sides of the ball. So he just brings a lot to the table, and he’s a great addition to our team.”
Mills finished with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. After shooting 1-of-6 from three in Brooklyn’s disappointing loss to the Hornets, the Australian point guard made five of nine attempts on the night.
Though the Nets won in convincing fashion — which is more impressive given that this was the second half of a back-to-back — it’s hard to take much from their win over the Wizards. The Wizards are another disorganized team, putting their puzzle together with a brand-new starting lineup and a new head coach in Wes Unseld Jr. Brooklyn built a lead as large as 25 and emptied the bench with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
The biggest takeaway might be from a lineup standpoint: The Nets should go with what they know.
It’s no surprise the Nets pounced on the Wizards after Nash went with a starting lineup of Kevin Durant, James Harden, Joe Harris, Bruce Brown and Blake Griffin. Those are five of the only eight players on this year’s team that were on last year’s roster. (Seven if you don’t count Kyrie Irving, who is away from the team due to his unvaccinated status.)
Nash has looked at his rotations as an experiment, but on Monday against the Wizards he went with the control group. Brown’s insertion into the starting lineup sparked a good mix of playmaking, shooting, scoring and hustle.
After the win, Brown called himself “the energizer bunny” of the Nets. “Once I get going everybody else gets going,” Brown said. “I just try to bring energy, get easy ones out in transition just to get out offense going.”
Wizards star Bradley Beal finished with 19 points, but he shot just 8-of-22 from the field and 3-of-13 from downtown. He and Durant went back and forth often, with Durant (25 points, 9-of-17 shooting) winning the battle.
“I think we maybe forced them into tough shots. They’re tough shot makers and tonight they just didn’t hit them,” Durant said. “We forced them to shoot over a hand and that’s usually a formula. ...Make their best players volume shooters, and we were able to do that.”
Nets rookies Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe checked in with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, with the Nets up double digits. Sharpe muscled his way to the paint for an easy layup over a smaller Wizards defender, and Thomas hoisted a contested top-of-the-key three that didn’t fall. He finished 0-of-2 from the field, missing a mid-range jumper later in the period.
