Mitch is +40. Is there a record for that stat?

Apparently he’s the first player to record a +40 or higher in 18 minutes or less. Does that count?

Still don’t have a road win!

Point taken, but we weren’t 100%.

Hart was still recovering, Mitch was out and Deuce missed a couple of games.

I said all summer I think this season will be all about Mitch. We have the same team as last year except for a minor upgrade with Yabu/Clarkson over Precious/Paine. That’s not a big deal. It even looks a little suspect with Clarkson looking better than I feared so far but Yabu even worse on defense than I feared.

Mitch is the HUGE addition we were missing last year. He takes us from that 50 win level give or take to the next level. So far, he is not disappointing, but imo this team is not going to be a serious contender unless we keep MItch healthy and productive or make some kind of move I can’t foresee right now. Healthy MItch is a beast, gives us needed depth, kicks the defense (our weakness) up a notch and those extra possessions make up for any lack of scoring on his part.

The Nets do not provide an effective proving ground for much of anything. I don’t think you can handwave away the three road losses, especially the ones to Milwaukee and Miami. Nor do the wins over Cleveland on opening night or Minny on the tail end of a road trip with Ant-Man a shell of himself do a lot for me.

We play a fragmented but well-rested Memphis team at home on Tuesday night. One would expect that we win that game, although maybe the Grizz come together just because it’s their only trip to MSG. In a way, I think it’s a bit of a trap game, so I won’t be overly alarmed by a “variance” loss to a desperate team.

However, after that, the real fun begins. In the following 5 games:

-we will play Orlando twice, and I think they will be gunning for us. I’m not fooled by their slow start, they will be a very formidable team once they work out the kinks.
-we play Miami in a delayed home-and-away. They handled us pretty easily last time, but that was without Mitch and with Yabu, Kolek, and Huk playing 36 minutes and Hart being a shell of himself.
-we play Dallas, who might also be sort of a trap game, they are probably better than their current record.

If we’re as good as we hope we are, we should go at least 4-2 in these 6 games, and preferably 5-1. It’s not the end of the world if we go 2-4 or even 1-5, but it would suggest that there are still lots of kinks to work out. Even tonight, I thought we got away with lots of bad decisions.

It’s getting hard to find things to complain about.

Still don’t have a road win!

Dadiet’s FT form looks so smooth.