Australian Patty Mills made five three-pointers and added 21 points off the bench as the Brooklyn Nets bounced back from a poor finish a day earlier with a blistering start that sent them to a 104-90 victory over the Washington Wizards today.
Mills, who has a career average of 8.9 points per game, has twice notched 20 points or more for Brooklyn in what’s been just four games for the Nets.
“I try to insert that energy that the game needs,” Mills said after the match.
“Create that juice, that atmosphere where you can spread and be infectious that way, having an impact on the game.”
After the match, all social media could talk about was Mills’ exceptional start to life as a Net after Brooklyn acquired the Australian guard from San Antonio during the off-season.
Even Mills’ former San Antonio teammate Tiago Splitter took to Twitter to celebrate the Australian’s stellar start in Brooklyn.
https://twitter.com/tiagosplitter/status/1452842151616950275https://twitter.com/MattBrooksNBA/status/1452810477927604225https://twitter.com/theyknowSims_/status/1452870474149646336
NBA superstar Kevin Durant scored 25 points for the Nets, while his MVP teammate James Harden finished with 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Durant lauded Mills after the game, declaring his approach to basketball is “inspiring to everybody”.
https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/1452820488376537100
The Nets were dominated in the second half of a 111-95 loss to Charlotte yesterday in their home opener, which featured protests by fans over the vaccine mandate that has kept Kyrie Irving from playing for Brooklyn.
READ MORE: NBA announcer slammed for sickening comment after Giddey scare
They overcame poor three-point shooting nights from Harden (1 for 8) and Joe Harris (3 for 11) by holding Washington below 35 per cent shooting.
“I think we came in on the second night of a back-to-back and imposed our will the whole game,” Durant said.
Washington’s Bradley Beal scored 19 points but shot eight for 22 after missing a game with a bruised right hip. He took 13 three-pointers, making just three, and didn’t attempt a free throw.
READ MORE: Daniel Ricciardo responds to ‘dirty driving’ claim from F1 rival
“I liked the looks and I was definitely confident in them,” Beal said.
“You guys know, I’ll be good, I’ll bounce back. But I definitely have to be better for my team in all aspects and I think me attacking the basket would have been a little bit better. I could have gotten to the line and put us in the bonus, create some opportunities for other teammates, too.”
The Wizards won their first two games but were already down by 18 in this one by the time the Nets honoured Spencer Dinwiddie with a video tribute after the first quarter of his return to Barclays Center.
Dinwiddie shot three for 13 and finished with 10 points, six assists and five rebounds. He averaged 14.3 points in 274 games for Brooklyn from 2016-21 before partially tearing his ACL on December 27 in the third game of the season and having surgery.