It’s here……….. The Brooklyn Nets’ 17 day, 7 game road trip has officially arrived. The Nets will ride a 4 game winning streak into OKC on Wednesday, in their first ESPN game of the past 2 years. OKC will defiantly be a tough game for the Nets, but if they play their game they could pull out a victory. OKC is just 4-6 in their last 10, but most of those losses were without Paul George who is obviously vital to the Thunder, as he is in discussion for league MVP. Steven Adams will lively kill the Nets, but if they contain Westbrook and George they could win. Brooklyn then travels to Utah to take on the Jazz Saturday night in another extremely difficult game. Utah is 21-12 at home this season, and are a team the Nets do not matchup well against. Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors will kill the Nets on the glass and in the paint, and it will be even worse if DeMarre Carroll is unavailable for that game. Besides that, if the Nets can contain Donovan Mitchell and Utah misses their outside shots this is another game they could steal. I would not be surprised if the Nets split the first two game. Brooklyn then travels to LA to take on the Clippers on the second half of a back to back. The Clippers are a very tough team, and are similar to the Nets because they have many players who contribute daily. This will be another close fought game, and the result of Saturday’s game will likely determine the result of this game (if the Nets win Saturday, they’ll lose Sunday and vice versa).

After taking on the Clippers, the Nets face 2 very winnable games. On Tuesday the 19th, the Nets travel to Sacramento to take on the Kings. The Nets blew out Sacramento earlier in the year, and the Kings could be lacking energy as their playoff hopes are looking dimmer by the day. The Nets matchup well against the Kings because they don’t have a dominant big man, and this is a game I defiantly expect the Nets to win. It won’t be easy, but the Nets should beat the King. Then Friday the 22nd the Nets take on the Lakers at the Staples Center. The Nets All Star D’Angelo Russell defiantly has this game circled on his calendar, as he always loves to get revenge on the team that traded and bashed him. Dlo would love to drop 40+ right in Magic’s face. This is another game that the Nets should win, as the Lakers have kind of given up on the season. Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram are out for the season, LeBron is on a minute’s restriction, and the Lakers play 0 defense. The Nets will won this game if they can knock down their shots.

Brooklyn then wraps up the west coast part of the trip with a journey to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers on Monday the 25th. Portland defeated the Nets on the first game after the all star break, so Brooklyn will be our for revenge. Jusuf Nurkic and Enes Kanter (known Nets killer) destroyed the Nets on the glass, so look for the Nets to try to stop them. Rodions Kurucs was benched in that February game, so he could be the X factor in this game. The Nets did win in Portland last year, but it will be difficult to repeat that performance. Lastly, the Nets wrap up the 7 game road trip in Philadelphia. It’s been a while since the Nets played the Sixers, and the Sixers have gotten significantly better in that span by adding Tobias Harris. Brooklyn is 2-1 against the Sixers (with one win coming in Philadelphia) but it probably will be difficult to go 3-1. This game could also be a preview to a first round Eastern Conference playoff matchup. All in all, this road trip is the Nets most difficult part of the season by far and it will define their season. If they go 4-3 or better, they will send out a serious message to the Eastern Conference and the NBA that Brooklyn is for real, and that they want the 6th seed. If the Nets go 2-5 or worse, I would expect Detroit to go back to the 6th seed and maybe even get a multiple game lead over Brooklyn. I would be happy if the Nets went 3-4, and anything over that would be extraordinary. Hopefully the Nets can remain in the 6th spot if they finish 3-4.

#WeGoHard