The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Charlotte Hornets 114-104, earning their second victory of the season.
Michael Porter Jr. led Brooklyn with 26 points on 8-of-17 shooting and 10 rebounds. Julius Randle added 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting and four assists.
Mikel Brown Jr. looked a lot more polished in this one, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting and four assists.
The Nets' starting point guard, Nolan Traore, also showed out, contributing 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
There was a lot to love from the Nets' offense in their first home win of the season.
With that said, let's take a look at three takeaways from the victory.
Randle made it more of a point to get downhill, yielding much better results.
He was able to convert several layups through heavy contact and use his bulky frame to gain an advantage.
The beauty of Randle getting downhill was that it created easy opportunities for his teammates and opened up his own jump shot.
There will still be nights where Randle may frustrate fans with his questionable shot selection and tendency to dribble into traffic, but the Nets' offense will absolutely flow when he's taking the initiative by getting downhill.
Brown shot selection has been suspect as of late, firing away shots from well behind the arc.
However, he was much more intentional about getting downhill and showcasing his midrange game.
Brown's 3-point shot off the dribble looked incredibly smooth in this one as well, which will be an incredibly important weapon for him to possess as he develops into one of the league's better scorers.
Brown still racked up a few too many turnovers for his liking, but his shot selection looked a lot better and he was consistently going after all the hustle plays.
Porter was zipping off the ball and squaring up beautifully, looking much more intentional with his off-ball movement.
Porter may have struggled to find a rhythm with Nic Claxton out of the fold, a guy he found quick chemistry with last season through cutting and screening actions.
But sometimes players just genuinely need a few games to find their footing throughout the course of a long regular season schedule. As long as Porter does all the little things correctly, the shots should keep falling.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/nets/onsi as Three Takeaways From Brooklyn Nets' Win Over Hornets .
