What to Watch for in Brooklyn Nets vs. Magic

The Brooklyn Nets will face off against the Orlando Magic for the second time this season, this time at home. The Nets fell to the Magic 105-98 in their last matchup in November.

The Nets took care of the Denver Nuggets 127-115 on Sunday, snapping a three-game losing streak.

The Magic fell to the Washington Wizards 120-112 on Tuesday, as they're 5-5 in their last 10 games.

Brooklyn will be getting Nic Claxton back after a two-game absence due to personal reasons. Day'Ron Sharpe stepped as the Nets' starting center in Claxton's stead, filling up the box score on both sides of the floor.

Sharpe will likely see his minutes reduced with Claxton back in the lineup, but expect him to still play hard, no matter how long he's out there on the court.

Claxton's return gives the Nets their Swiss Army Knife back, as the Nets rely on him to anchor their defense, control the flow of the offense at the elbow, score easy points off of driving and cutting actions, and run a lot of screen actions to open Michael Porter Jr. up for clean looks.

Porter's off-ball movement and Claxton's knack for getting to the rim should put a ton of pressure on Orlando's interior defense, which gives up 52.3 points per game inside the paint, the 10th most in the league.

The Magic's offense is probably going to run primarily through Paolo Banchero, who has been hot as of late.

Banchero managed just 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting in Orlando's loss to Washington, but in the four games before that, he was averaging 23.7 points on 53.1% shooting, 10.8 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.3 blocks, and one steal per game.

The Nets may try to live and die by Banchero's 3-point attempts, but the Duke product isn't known to take too many shots from downtown, so Brooklyn's defense best be prepared to stay attached onto Orlando's superstar and prevent him from getting downhill with a head full of steam.

For Brooklyn, Egor Demin will probably try to get established early from downtown, especially when he's moving off the ball. However, many Nets fans would like to see him get more comfortable attacking the rim, which opens up looks inside and assist opportunities.

This game will also give Cam Thomas a great opportunity to build off his solid second half performance on Sunday, when he scored 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting.