Good news, bad news.
Bad news: the Brooklyn Nets will begin the post-Kyrie Irving 2019-20 era on Saturday night against the Charlotte Hornets.
Good news: we now know who the 2019-20 Nets are - no longer will we wonder “when is Kyrie coming back?” He’s not. This is Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert’s team, now.
Brooklyn is still in line to make the playoffs, and in order to do so they need to take care of beating teams like tonight’s foes, the Charlotte Hornets.
Lets the post-Kyrie, pre-Kyrie-KD era begin.
WHO: Brooklyn Nets (25-29) at Charlotte Hornets (19-36)
WHEN: 7:00 PM EST
WHERE: YES Network (tv), WFAN (radio)
One familiar face is no longer in town. The Hornets bought out Michael Kidd-Gilchrist out earlier this month and he wound up joining the Dallas Mavericks. Life would have been so much different for Charlotte if they had landed the number one pick in the 2012 Draft. What if...
Now that Spencer Dinwiddie is running the show from here on out, it’s up to him to be their lead playmaker and scorer. It helps to have a healthy and confident Caris LeVert as his wing man, but when games are on the line, Kenny Atkinson will go to him. On the other side, Terry Rozier is that player for the Hornets. He’s put together a career year in his first full time season as a starter and has seen his shooting numbers increase across the board. It should make for a decent matchup.
For more on the Hornets, check out At the Hive.
In the last Hornets-Nets contest Devonte’ Graham torched Brooklyn for 40 points, the most points by a Charlotte player in a single game this season. Graham shot a blistering 7-for-12 from the three-point line in that game, showing why he was selected to participate in the three-point contest over All-Star Weekend.
But Graham won’t be the only three-point sniper on the floor when the Hornets face the Nets. He’ll be joined by fellow three-point contestant Joe Harris, Brooklyn’s flame thrower from deep who’s hitting nearly 41 percent of his three-pointers this season and led the league last year at 47.4 percent.