The Brooklyn Nets (25-51) were coming off one of their more exciting wins after Saturday's win at the Washington Wizards and they were hoping that they could keep the good times rolling on their road trip. Brooklyn still had to take care of business on Monday at the Dallas Mavericks (37-39) and while Dallas made them work for it, the Nets made the plays needed to close out the win.
The Nets beat the Mavericks 113-109 despite trailing by as many as 10 points in a game that looked like it was getting away from them in the fourth quarter. Keon Johnson led the way for Brooklyn with 24 points and three assists while D'Angelo Russell had one of his best games of the season with 18 points, five rebounds, and 11 assists against a formidable Dallas team.
The Mavericks had six players score in double figures, but when a shot needed to made, nobody on Dallas' roster could get the job done in crunch time and the Nets were able to come away victorious as a result. Here are three Nets takeaways from Monday's win at the Mavericks:
Keon Johnson
Johnson has been developing nicely over the course of this season as he has been asked to do a lot while playing in the place of Cam Thomas, who has played just 25 games this season. With the way that Johnson played on Monday, he put up 24 points, three rebounds, and three assists in 29 minutes on the floor, Brooklyn has been encouraged with the way that Johnson took control of the game at times.
Johnson's numbers have been down in March compared to what he did in the prior two months, but he has shown what he can do next to D'Angelo Russell as the point guard of the operation. Johnson's play on the offensive end has been impressive, but it has also been encouraging to se him compete on the defensive end, especially ...
