Dorian Finney-Smith sends warning to NBA amid Nets' surprise start
The Brooklyn Nets were projected to be the NBA's worst team this season. Eight games in, they have the Eastern Conference's third-best record at 4-4, and their veterans have played a crucial role.
Dorian Finney-Smith , Cam Johnson and Dennis Schroder gained more notoriety as trade candidates than impact players for Brooklyn entering this season. Yet, the trio led the Nets to another surprise victory on Monday, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 106-104 while shorthanded on the second night of a back-to-back.
Finney-Smith broke out of an early offensive slump, scoring 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three, including a go-ahead triple with one minute remaining. Following the win, Brooklyn's fourth in its last six games, the nine-year veteran sent a stern message to the rest of the league.
"We're competitors," Finney-Smith said of the Nets' veterans. "Schroder, CJ, they've been a part of winning teams. CJ's been to the finals. Schroder has been close... It's just us in this locker room. We don't care about other people's expectations. We know what we expect from ourselves. We're going to compete. And if you want to play against us and you think it's gonna be easy, then you're in for a rude awakening."
The victory marked Brooklyn's second over Memphis in the last week.
Nets veterans leading team during surprise start
After scoring 33 points during the Nets' last win over the Grizzlies, Schroder turned in another high-level performance on Monday. The veteran floor general posted 20 points and six assists on 7-of-15 shooting. Defensively, he held Ja Morant to 1-of-6 shooting in the fourth quarter and poked the ball away on the game's final play to secure the victory.
Schroder has been among the NBA's top point guards to start the season, averaging 19.9 points and 7.3 assists on 51/49/86 shooting splits.
"It starts with the point guard, I think, on every team," he said after Monday's win. "I think when somebody [sees] the point guard picking up full court, and they see you in the backcourt hustling, it feeds over to them making sure they're pressuring, and they are in the right spots. And that's what Coach wants from me, and I'm gonna do it every single night.
"I've done it my whole career. If you've followed my career, that's how I've gotten my playing time in the league. And luckily, we got a coach who loves that 94 feet pressure, and everybody's buying into it. So it's been great."
Johnson also continued a hot start on Monday, scoring 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from distance. Over Brooklyn's last five games, the 6-foot-8 forward has averaged 18.8 points on 44 percent shooting from three, the NBA's sixth-best mark among 27 players attempting eight or more per game.
Brooklyn's latest win will pique the interest of playoff teams in search of point guard or wing help. Despite their early success, the Nets are expected to field offers for Finney-Smith, Johnson and Schroder ahead of the deadline. After transparent conversations with general manager Sean Marks this summer, all three players have acknowledged their uncertain futures early this season.
But for now, the trio is making things difficult for the rest of the NBA with Brooklyn.
"I said it before, even in training camp, we don't really care what people think or what they say," Schroder said of the Nets' low expectations. "We believe in this group, and everybody wants to make the playoffs. And I think it starts with the veterans... We just want to come out every single game, you know, take every game and go out and compete, you know, out-compete the other team and, yeah, win some games."
