Brooklyn Nets at Los Angeles Lakers Game Preview

The Brooklyn Nets will head to the West Coast this week, beginning with a showdown at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. The Nets have won their last couple of games since dropping one to the Grizzlies. The Lakers have won four straight in March, and haven’t lost since playing, ironically, the Grizzlies on Feb. 29.

The Nets are in the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, 29-34 on the season. They are coming off of a rather tumultuous week that saw the departure of head coach Kenny Atkinson.

After a team meeting in which Kevin Durant called out the culture that Atkinson was building, he chose to step down. Nonetheless, the Nets remain in playoff contention, even with Durant and Kyrie Irving out for the season.

Los Angeles comes into Tuesday with a clean injury report, sitting atop the Western Conference with a 49-13 record. Entering the week, they had a 6.5-game lead over the building-sharing Clippers and an 18-game lead over eighth place in the West, which is currently the Grizzlies.

With LeBron James and Anthony Davis firing on all cylinders, along with a gaggle of their teammates, look out. This team can make it rain fire on the Western Conference, along with the rest of the league. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:30 pm ET in Los Angeles.

Putting Up Points

Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has played absolutely out of his mind this season. Nets fans can’t help but wonder what he could do with a healthy Durant and Irving, or what this team could do. Dinwiddie is averaging 20.2 points, 6.7 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game. Outstanding for a guy that a few teams had given up on.

DeAndre Jordan is averaging 8 points and 10 boards per game, and that has been mostly off the bench. With Atkinson gone, Jordan enters the starting lineup, as it likely should have been all along. We will see if Jordan can push the team even deeper into the playoff run.

Unfair

Unfair is the only word that comes to mind when watching Davis and James play together. Well, that, and fun. LeBron has completely transformed the point guard position this season, only 1,200 games into his career. Only LeBron could go from “point forward” to being a straight-up point guard, at 6-8, 250. He has revolutionized the game once more.

Anthony Davis is just out there going Anthony Davis-like things. Only this time, he has a running mate that might be more talented than he is for the first time in his entire life. It has to be a dream for a player like Davis playing alongside Lebron’s insane court vision.

Be sure to tune in and check out the new-look Nets square off with the same-look Lakers. We will see if the lineup adjustments will do the Nets any good against a top two team in the league. See you at Staples Center.