Spencer Dinwiddie Scores 25 in his Return to Brooklyn
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 25 points in his return to Brooklyn as the Nets beat the Chicago Bulls 116-105 Thursday night. That same day they traded Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns.
Joe Harris put up 18 points and Yuta Watanabe had 14 points coming off the bench. Dorian Finney-Smith who came to Brooklyn with Dinwiddie in the Kyrie Irving trade had nine points and nine rebounds.
This was Dinwiddie’s first game back as a Net since Dec. 27, 2020. He spent five seasons with them he turned up his scoring in the second half with 18 points.
In the first quarter, the Nets came out slow, shooting 28.6% from the field. LaVine and the Bulls used that to their advantage. LaVine scored 12 points and the Bulls used a 16-2 run that built a 13-point advantage early in the second.
In the second the Nets caught fire from outside. They went 8-12 from downtown led by Harris with six of his own. Brooklyn took a 53-50 lead going into the half.
Short-handed and in danger of losing good position in the east standings the Nets snap a two-game losing streak. In the fourth quarter, they went on a 20-6 run that helped them win the game. Dinwiddie scored 13 points in the fourth and Watanabe hit two 3’s.
“We only gave up 21 points in the fourth, and that was with (Watanabe) on the floor finishing for us,” Vaughn said. “I think we saw the versatility and size come into play tonight where we didn’t get destroyed rebounding-wise and shot-discrepancy.”
In the early hours of the morning, Thursday Kevin Durant was traded to the Suns for Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, four first-round picks, and a pick swap in 2028. They then flipped Crowder for two Milwaukee Bucks second-round picks. TJ Warren will join Durant in the trade to Phoenix.
Durant was slated to represent the Nets in the All-Star game, he averaged 29 points over 129 games in Brooklyn. His trade followed Irving’s trade Sunday.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’s always difficult when you’re trading a player of that stature and that ilk,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said. “My job as GM and our job as a front office is to try and bring in that caliber of talent. So those decisions are not easy, they come with a lot of thought, a lot of process on systemic debriefs and discussions that go along with that.”
Bridges and Johnson did not play because they got traded the day of the game. Bridges missed his first game since high school. Cam Thomas had a three-game streak of scoring 40 that came to an end, he only scored 20 against the Bulls.
Bridges and Johnson are expected to suit up Saturday night when the Nets host the Sixers.
25 PTS | 6 AST | 4 STL
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) February 10, 2023
And a W in @SDinwiddie_25's return 👍 pic.twitter.com/EysS8nLdc9
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