Caris LeVert has struggled to find any sort of consistency in his new role off the bench for the Nets this season, and in the first 14:30 of a game the Nets blew the barn doors off the Jazz 130-96, it looked like this game wouldn’t be any different, as the shooting guard missed his first five shots on the night despite getting great looks in the mid-range.
However, things finally changed at around the 9:30 mark of the second quarter, as LeVert got his first bucket to go on the night after a pump fake got his defender to bite, which opened up a lane just inside the left elbow for the easy pull-up jumper.
LeVert got back to showcasing his versatile skillset when it comes to scoring the ball, as he was able to use his dribble, speed, smooth touch, body contortions and 6’6″ frame to separate himself from all the different types of defenders the Jazz threw at him.
All of those efforts led LeVert to put up 24 points, five assists and two steals on the night, and this was a much-needed performance by the Michigan product as this gives him a chance to regain his confidence early on in the season. LeVert needs to keep that same edge on a consistent basis in order for the Nets to thrive as a team; especially when Kevin Durant returns.
“I think it was great for Caris,” Steve Nash said about LeVert. “I was proud of him for making plays for his teammates. I love it when he finds that balance between scoring and making plays for others.”
Jarrett Allen got his first start of the season, and he showed that the starting lineup is exactly where he belongs, as the 6-foot-11 center nearly had a 20-20 with 19 points and 18 rebounds.
Allen completely outplayed Rudy Gobert in this one, as he out bodied the taller and heavier frame of the “Stifle Tower” on numerous occasions on the glass and took him to task on the other side of the ball including a posterizing slam.
As has been a common theme all season long, Kyrie Irving had yet another impressive performance in this one, as he dropped 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.
Irving got off to a blistering hot start to this game, hitting nine straight shots including four three-pointers. Irving did most of his damage in the first quarter with 18 points.
This game had all the potential to be a 50+ point game for the East Orange, N.J., native, as he was kicking it into high gear on drives to the rim for beautiful finishes despite the paint being manned down by one of the best interior defenders in the league in Gobert and also hitting three-pointers in the face of bigger defenders.
However, the Nets were already up by so much in this game, so Irving didn’t need to go off any further to lead his team to victory which instead allowed for LeVert and Allen to find their niche on the offensive side of the ball.
“He took the shots the defense gave him, and he was very efficient out there, great at leading as well, talking to us on the defensive end, talking us through plays, talking to us with the new group he was out there with,” LeVert said of Irving. “That’s really underrated playing with a new group out there.”
