NETS GAMENIGHT: #Magic (11-30) @ #Nets (17-22)

Orlando Magic (11-30) @ Brooklyn Nets (17-22)

Barclays Center 7:30

TV: YES – RADIO: WFAN 660/101.9FM

[quote_simple]NETS STARTERS
The starting lineup tonight will be  Shaun Livingston playing alongside Alan Anderson in the backcourt with Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce up front and the man in the middle Kevin Garnett.

The Nets are in a major groove right now and they put a beatdown on the cross town rival New York Knicks 103-80 and that score doesn’t even tell the story of how dominant the Brooklyn was throughout the game.

The defense is playing very well since the new year giving up 10 less points per game and it was another great defensive performance at MSG yesterday where the held the Knicks to 33 percent shooting.

The smaller lineup with Livingston and Anderson is working with Pierce playing the power forward position and it is allowing the Nets to flow their early offense through Johnson.

Johnson has scored 67 points in his last six first quarters which has tremendously helped Brooklyn get off to good starts.

[box]Injury News: No News

Deron Williams came off the bench for the first time since his rookie year and played well against the Knicks.  It came out later that D-Will asked to come off the bench so he wouldn’t mess up the chemistry the team has right now.  He came away feeling good so the same minutes should be played tonight.[/box]

MAGIC STARTERS

The Magic starting lineup will be Jameer Nelson and Victor Oladipo in the backcourt with Arron Afflalo, Tobias Harris and  Glen Davis playing in the frontcourt.

The Magic lost their first nine of the new year as part of a 10-game skid that finally ended with Sunday’s 93-91 win over the Celtics.

Afflalo had 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in the win and Nelson added 16 points and 10 assists for Orlando.

The rookie Oladipo hammered the Nets in the first meeting with multiple highlight reel steals and dunks that embarrassed Brooklyn in a 107-83 loss on Nov 3rd.

The Magic are truly struggling with one of their best players injured in Nikola Vucevic still out with a concussion.

[quote_simple][box]Game Notes:

The Nets are looking for their season-best sixth straight victory at Barclays Center.

Joe Johnson is averaging 24.5 points over the last six games.

The Magic have lost two in a row as the visitor against the Nets.

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[box]WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Beat the teams you are supposed to beat

The Nets have won seven of eight games since the calendar changed to 2014 and beaten some very good teams in the process so playing a reeling (10-31) Magic team may be a bit different but payback is waiting so focus is necessary.

The Magic destroyed the Nets in Jason Kidd’s coaching debut back in November 107-86 and the game got out of hand with Oladipo having a spectacular second half with some highlight dunks.  The third quarter was a debacle as well losing it 33-21.

This is a much different team for the Nets as well as the Magic but the Nets have additional motivation to win this one.  They want to send a message that the last time they played an anomaly and the five out of six games prior were more of the real Brooklyn Nets.

Continue the early game dominance and win this game handily so you can get ready to host the Mavericks Friday night.

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[box]INJURY REPORT

NETS

Brook Lopez  – OUT (ankle)

MAGIC

Ronnie Price – OUT (sprained right foot)

Nikola Vučević – OUT (consussion)

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