Brooklyn's Bench Outplays Starters in Loss to the Memphis Grizzlies

Youth and inexperience proved to seal the fate of the Brooklyn Nets in Sunday's 103-98 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Nets rolled out a starting lineup whose average age was younger than the five players they brought off the bench. Rookie forward Danny Wolf filled in for Michael Porter Jr., who was out for rest, and the starters struggled without their star to lean on.

The starting five played a combined 136 minutes and totaled 49 points scored. They compiled a 34.8% field goal percentage. Meanwhile, the bench unit only played a combined 104 minutes, but also scored 49 points. The reserves took just five fewer shots and finished with a 48.8% field goal percentage.

A key indicator that the bench unit outplayed the starters, other than shooting splits, is plus/minus. The starting five combined to go -68 from the floor to the reserves +43 performance.

Noah Clowney and Wolf scored 28 points together, going a combined 8-for-28 from the field. On the other hand, Tyrese Martin and Jalen Wilson also joined for 28 points, but shot an efficient 10-for-14 from the field. Martin and Wilson did most of their work from beyond the arc, combining to make eight three-pointers.

Despite the bench unit matching the starters in scoring, none of the subs attempted a free throw. The starters went 8-for-16 from the charity stripe, a costly error in a two-possession game.

One of the key reasons the reserves could find more success than the starting five was that they moved the ball more effectively. The bench unit had a 14-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio compared to the starters' 11-to-7 ratio.

Another problem the starting lineup had in the loss was creating and limiting second-chance points. The bench lineup combined for eight offensive rebounds to the starters' five –– Day'Ron Sharpe led all players with six offensive rebounds. Memphis' starting five totaled 10 offensive rebounds that led to second-chance opportunities.

The nail in the coffin on the starter's poor afternoon game came in the clutch. The entire bench unit entered the game with 3:51 remaining in the third quarter, down by three points and they played until all of the starters returned at the 3:39 mark in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn had a four-point lead at that point.

The Grizzlies finished the game on a 13-4 run and held the Nets' starters scoreless in the final three minutes.

Selfish shot selection and turnovers spelled defeat for Brooklyn after being in a good position to get a road win. Nic Claxton and Clowney struggled to be key sources of offense in a young starting lineup.

In the bench group, however, Martin and Wilson lit up the three-point line after receiving inconsistent minutes in the past couple of months. Sharpe did a little bit of everything with eight points, 13 rebounds and three stocks while Nolan Traoré posted a career-high six assists with zero turnovers.

This is one of those situations where an equal amount of positives and negatives can be taken away from the loss, but it outlined a clear problem in the first five when without Porter Jr.