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In a season defined by injuries, trades and turmoil, one bright spot for the Brooklyn Nets has been that they have one of the best rookie cores in the league. The combination of Cameron Thomas, Kessler Edwards, David Duke Jr. and Day’Ron Sharpe has proven to be a wealth of riches in talent. With the blockbuster trade for 25-year-old Ben Simmons, Brooklyn could be set for both the present and the future.
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Day’Ron Sharpe Putting up Monster G-League Numbers
Sharpe, 20, who is on a two-way contract, has turned heads with his last two performances in the G-League. In his last two games for the Long Island Nets, he is averaging 26.0 points, 20.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game. With LaMarcus Aldridge still out as he recovers from a hip injury, Sharpe could see more time with the Brooklyn Nets down the stretch.
Day’Ron Sharpe is a BULLY in the post. Over his last two games he’s averaging:
26.0 PTS 🤯 20.5 REB 🤯 4.0 BLK
Nets Still Have Chance to Avoid Play-in
The Nets picked up a key win in their last game against the Portland Trail Blazers as they continue to climb up the Eastern Conference playoff rankings. After spending a good portion of the season on top of the conference, an 11-game losing streak earlier this season plummeted the Nets to the bottom of the standings. As it stands now, the Nets will have to compete in the play-in tournament to qualify for the postseason. However, there is still a chance for them to avoid that. New York Daily News reporter Kristian Winfield explained how.
“The No. 7 and No. 8 seeds play to determine the seventh seed. The loser of that game plays the winner of the matchup between the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds to determine the eighth seed. The losers are eliminated from the playoff picture altogether. And that means there’s a chance the Nets could finish the season eighth and still miss the playoffs,” Winfield wrote.
“That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, the two teams standing in-between the Nets and playoff security. As of Sunday morning, the Nets (37-34) were four games behind the sixth-place Cavaliers (41-30) and 2.5 games behind the seventh-seeded Raptors (39-31). That means the Nets would need to win four more games than the Cavaliers to tie them for sixth in the standings at the end of the season and three more games than the Raptors to leapfrog them for seventh.”
With their playoff livelihood still hanging in the balance, it is hard for Nets players to not pay attention to the standings. But ultimately the players know the most important aspect of it all is to go out, play the game and live with the results.
“I think it’s kind of natural,” Nic Claxton said, according to Winfield. “You can get caught up in that a little bit, but at the end of the day, we’ve just gotta control what we can control and try to win as many games as we can.”
“It’s cool to watch the standings but we’re more focused on playing a good brand of basketball and just having some good momentum going into the playoffs,” Kevin Durant said, per NetsDaily. “Wherever we end up, we just got to be prepared for it. It’s not something we’re focused on every day.”
The Nets will have a chance to move closer towards playoff security with a win over the Utah Jazz in their next game.
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20-Year-Old Nets Big Man Turns Heads With G-League Campaign