What to Watch for in Brooklyn Nets vs. Spurs

The Brooklyn Nets will face off against the San Antonio Spurs for the second time this season, this time at home.

The Nets fell to the Spurs 118-107 on Oct. 26, and their leading scorer in that game is no longer on the team. Cam Thomas, who has since signed with the Milwaukee Bucks after being released by the Nets, popped off for 41 points in that contest.

Ben Saraf was also starting in place of Egor Dëmin, and Nolan Traoré and Danny Wolf were not seeing regular playing time.

Now, the Nets find themselves spiraling towards the bottom of the standings despite continuing to play their regulars, including Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton.

Porter and Claxton put up solid numbers in Brooklyn's loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, finding each other on alley-oops and cuts to the rim on several occasions throughout the contest.

However, the Nets failed to protect the rim and were bullied by Dallas' bigs on the interior, which could be a problematic trend against a Spurs team that features Victor Wembanyama.

To counter Wembanyama's towering size inside on defense, it'll be important for the Nets to find Claxton inside early in possessions and get him vertical, which is where MPJ and Clax's chemistry could come in handy.

Offensively, the Nets' best bet of stopping the 7-foot-4 specimen is to force him to take as many deep shots as possible, throw double teams towards him, and force him to put the ball on the deck, hoping he commits a few too many turnovers.

Though the Spurs were able to win their 10th straight win, the Toronto Raptors may have provided the perfect blueprint in stopping Wembanyama, holding him to a modest 12 points on 3-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range.

San Antonio's trio of guards could pose problems for Brooklyn in a variety of ways.

Traoré's physicality could give De'Aaron Fox some problems, but of course, Fox has the size, blazing speed, and veteran IQ to outsmart the Nets' rookie point guard.

Stephon Castle will certainly not make it easy for Dëmin to get free off the ball and could make an already hesitant Dëmin even more hesitant to step out of his comfort zone and attack the rim more often.

Dylan Harper is another crafty guard the Nets will have to worry about, especially with all the space he'll have to work with.