The Nets are surprisingly good this season, kind of, but their current center rotation is really iffy. And it gets even iffier when they face a team like the Blazers who have a big banger manning the pivot. Nurkic is one of the most physical players in the league, and the Nets combined frontline of Tyler Zeller (soft), Jarrett Allen (skinny), and Timofey Mozgov (dead or something idk) just couldn’t handle him. I felt kind of bad while watching it, because I think Allen should be a beast, but Nurkic is a beast currently so he won out.
Nurkic has been up and down this season, which is normal for him at this point. Tonight was a major high point on the pedulum of the season. 29 points on all sorts of shots, some nice dimes, some nice defensive plays, and Zach Collins hyping him up the whole way. Speaking of which, can Blazers tell me why that guy isn’t playing at all?
I fully expect Nurkic to pick up a couple quick fouls in his next game, get all pouty, and not impact the game much after that. That is the pendulum of Nurkic, and you just have to deal with it.