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Bruce Brown is picking the right time to find his game.
After a strong March, Brown is thriving in April. Friday night, he nearly tallied a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and four blocks in a key win over the Cavaliers that put the Nets in position to receive the seventh seed in the upcoming play-in tournament.
Brown hit two 3-pointers in the win over the Cavaliers and has hit multiple trifectas in four of his past five games.
“Just all mental for me,” he said. “Just having confidence to shoot the ball. I got a lot of reps up this summer and during the year.”
Kevin Durant joked that Brown didn’t deserve a triple-double because he mentioned during the game he was only two assists shy of that plateau to his teammates.
“We didn’t know and he’s like, ‘Yo I need two more assists!’ I’m like, ‘You not gettin’ it tonight. You shouldn’t have said nothing,’ ” Durant said. “But we all love how Bruce has been playing lately. Four blocks, I mean we expect, at this point I expect him to come out here and play well now.
“And I think once you build those expectations up for yourself as a player then that’s when you start to develop even more and more. And you build that trust in your teammates. I’m sure he’ll have more opportunities to do that.”
Durant raved about the job coach Steve Nash has done this season, despite an underwhelming 43-38 record entering Sunday’s regular-season finale.
“The last two years, he’s been dealt a wild hand: injuries, trades, disgruntled players, guys in and out the lineup, stuff that he can’t control,” Durant said. “I felt like he handled it as best as he could, and I think it’s on us as players to make his job easier, and so guys have been doing a good job of listening and responding well to Steve.
“It’s his first real opportunity as a coach, so I think he’s handled it all perfectly to be honest. It’s a tough hand he was dealt when he got here.”
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