The Brooklyn Nets are taking on Maccabi Tel Aviv in an NBA preseason exhibition game from the Barclays Center on Tuesday and the game starts up at 7:30 pm ET and has the Euroleague champs coming in for a matchup with Kevin Garnett and Deron Williams and this game comes as some groups will protest outside in Brooklyn and kicks off the preseason for the Nets.
The Nets spent a ton of money last season and couldn't get it done and now they come in after a summer of turmoil. The team has a new head coach in Lionel Hollins after Jason Kidd strangely left for the Bucks and now they have a new outlook for the season. Deron Williams is coming back and looking to stay healthy after dealing with ankle issues, while Kevin Garnett is out to prove that he is not over the hill just yet.
The Cavaliers just played against the team and that saw Cleveland win over Maccabi, who used to be coached by the new head coach of Cleveland in David Blatt. The team is one of the best in Europe and they ended up losing the game, but it was a solid performance for the team and now they face off against the Nets. The Nets will likely not have Deron Williams and Brook Lopez playing too many minutes, as they are both coming off of injuries and they likely will take it slow.
The team did not do as well as it had hoped last year after bringing in Garnett and Paul Pierce and now it's just Garnett left and Joe Johnson to lead the way with Williams. The team is playing in China this preseason and this will be the first chance for the team to get into action with Hollins at the helm. Hollins was fired despite winning 50 games with the Grizzlies and now he is trying to get the most he can out of this Brooklyn team after they spent way over the luxury tax last season, paying more than some teams paid their entire roster.
The Nets had a very odd summer and now that Kidd is gone, the focus is on moving forward and building up a team that was supposed to challenge for a title last season. The team is getting Lopez back after he basically missed the whole year and that will be huge for the Nets. Williams is hoping to remain healthy for the duration of the season and veteran Andrei Kirilenko should play a larger role than he did last season. Keeping Lopez and Williams healthy is the key for Hollins this season.
The Knicks will be better and the Raptors are a talented bunch after their run last season to the division title. The Nets won over the Raptors in the playoffs, but there aren't many people who would say that they were the worse team in that matchup. Now the teams will battle it out again and this year in the east is looking as intriguing as any season in recent memory.
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