In the last two episodes of “As The Four Turns” on the Nets Basketball Network, Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson went with the player I had hoped he had eyes for when I watched the pilot way back in October.
After falling in and out of love over and over with, in no particular order, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jared Dudley and Treveon Graham at the starting power forward position, Atkinson turned to 21-year old rookie Rodions Kurucs, a second-round draft choice last June, in Brooklyn’s two must-win home games this week.
The Nets proceeded to rebound from three consecutive embarrassing blowout losses to throttle Dallas, 127-88, on Monday before hanging on to defeat Cleveland, 113-107, on Wednesday, to move a game over .500 at 34-33. They are still a percentage point behind Detroit for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, but they now own a 3 and a half game lead over ninth-place Orlando and Charlotte.
Kurucs has averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in the two games while shooting 57.9 percent from the floor, including 54.5 percent from three-point range.
Granted, these two tanking opponents showed up at Barclays Center playing some of the worst pick-and-roll defense I have seen all season. Kurucs opened each game with a dunk off the roll. In addition, Kurucs did pad his stats against the Mavs with 14 second-half points that were mostly garbage time.
The Nets are 20-11 in games he has started and 6-13 when he has been either injured or DNP’d by Atkinson. He’s third among Nets regulars with a plus-0.7 net rating.
In his previous time as a starter, Kurucs was used on the wing, more likely to guard a smaller player like Phoenix’s Devin Booker than a load like Cleveland’s Kevin Love.
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However, Kurucs is six-foot-nine, with the wingspan and the athleticism to be a pesky defender against larger opponents despite his slender frame.
Kurucs helped hold Dallas icon Dirk Nowitzki to 2-for-13 shooting in what was likely his farewell performance in Brooklyn on Monday. Love did come alive in the second half on Wednesday, scoring 21 of his 24 points, but 10 came on free throws, of which Kurucs was only responsible for five.
“He battled,” Nets point guard D’Angelo Russell, who scored 25 points, said of Kurucs. “When you’ve got a guy of (Love’s) caliber, you got to guard him and make it tough on him without touching him. I give kudos to him.”
Rebounding is always a concern with this team, but the Nets sported a 78.5 percent defensive rebounding percentage with Kurucs on the floor in the last two games, including a satisfactory 72.7 percent versus the much more physical Cavs. In the three previous debacles, the Nets’ defensive rebounding percentage was an abominable 59.7 percent with Graham on the floor at the four.
Kurucs said he felt the 40-pound weight discrepancy with Love, but it didn’t adversely affect his offense. When the game was tight in the fourth quarter, Kurucs soared for a highlight-reel alley-oop dunk to put Brooklyn ahead, 100-94, with 5:51 remaining. It was a play Drew shouldn’t soon forget.
But will Atkinson?
Like a teenager, he has been coy about sticking with Kurucs, who ostensibly was elevated only because of Graham’s back soreness. I’ll give Atkinson this: The small sample size and the poor quality of the opponents in this experiment do necessitate caution.
However, I also believe there will be a lot of petulant Nets fans if Atkinson reinserts a healthy Graham into the starting five when the Nets travel to Atlanta for another must-win game on Saturday.
“Listen, (Kurucs) has been a pleasant surprise,” Atkinson said. “We sat him for a few games and he didn’t get flustered about that, and now he’s our starting four-man.”
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With underrated veteran DeMarre Carroll in reserve playing the other half of games at the four, the Nets can adequately fill a position that has been their Achilles' heel all season. It's a fix that doesn’t force them to work 4-on-5 on offense. Carroll was the real sparkplug in the victory over Dallas, scoring 22 points in 22 minutes. The Nets were an astounding plus-33 when he was on the court.
It’s been a winning combination. At this point of the season, that’s all that should matter going forward.