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Warriors vs. Nets gamethread: Brandon Rush starting with Klay Thompson out

The Warriors face the Nets tonight at 7:30 p.m. PST without the help of both Leandro Barbosa and Klay Thompson.

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

For reasons that I don't wholly understand, I watched the entirety of last night's game between the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings.

Actually, my bad, no I didn't — I just watched the third and fourth quarter that seemed to drag on forever, DeMarcus Cousins' 40-point performance notwithstanding.

Anyway, my point: I don't see how Brooklyn can possibly compete with the Golden State Warriors for 48 minutes. Just check out this scouting report of the team from a commenter at SB Nation's Nets site Nets Daily:

Teams know the scouting report on the Nets - stop Lopez and you'll be fine

So they double him and force him into a bad game, and don’t have to worry about the rest.

Joe 33% (that’s overall, he’s 21% from 3-range)
Jack 38%
Bargs 40%
Ellington 29%

These are the "offensive" (yes, very offensive to me!) players. We are supposed to live with their bad defense because at least they can shoot. And Hollins keep riding them. Part of their bad shooting is surely on them, and in some cases age is playing a role. But they are all shooting well below career averages, and below last year even. FGA%, career, last year

I've generally refused to watch Brooklyn more than twice a year since the Deron Williams and ISOJoe era began, but this looks even uglier than that.

So perhaps we should consider this game an opportunity to appreciate the luxury of having both Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli in our post rotation surrounded by Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Harrison Barnes. And Curry, of course, is aiming to pass his dad on the all-time 3-pointers list.

Predicting a score is difficult because you figure the fourth quarter will be garbage time, but let's hope it's an opportunity for the reserves to shine a bit. Unfortunately, two players who will not be available are Leandro Barbosa and Klay Thompson. Barbosa remains out due to a family matter, according to Monte Poole of CSN. Thompson is apparently out due to back stiffness. Poole also reports that the Warriors will honor the victims of the attacks in Paris with a moment of silence before the game.

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