Breaking down the Brooklyn Nets’ 6-game win streak

Over the last six games, the Brooklyn Nets have gone on a tear and strung together an impressive series of wins against the Eastern Conference, all while putting up great numbers and generating a ton of optimism about the franchise.

It’s been an eventful past week and a half for the Brooklyn Nets. It all started with a close win over the Toronto Raptors, who own the best record in the league.

Capitalizing on the Raptors’ scoring troubles, the Nets squeaked by, led by D’Angelo Russell’s 29 points. Brooklyn followed this up with an expected eight-point victory against their in-state rival, the New York Knicks.

Then came the matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers. Despite Jimmy Butler’s absence, the Sixers played a fantastic game, but it was no match for a phenomenal showing by Spencer Dinwiddie, who posted a career-high 39 points off the bench. This marked the most points scored by a nonstarter this season and the most by a Nets reserve since 1981-82.

His incredible game seemed too fitting when news broke shortly after that he and the Nets had come to an agreement on a contract extension to the tune of three years, $34 million. This deal was a feel-good story for anyone hoping for success for Dinwiddie, whose career had previously teetered on the edge of brevity before climbing his way back into prominence in the league. It was also a perfect hallmark for this Brooklyn team that was starting to catch fire.

Monster games from their guard tandem continued through the next two matchups. Dinwiddie racked up another 29 points against the Washington Wizards, and D’Angelo Russell showed Atlanta Hawks rookie Trae Young how it’s done by putting up 32 points. Riding five straight wins, the Brooklyn Nets showed up big to take on the Los Angeles Lakers at Barclays Center, coming away victorious and keeping the streak alive.

This run has been nothing shy of captivating, but only when evaluating the numbers does it show just how extraordinary this team has been lately.

The Nets have been one of the best offensive teams over these last six games. Through this stretch, the team holds the third-best offensive rating in the league, which is good enough to allow them to claim the fifth-best net rating despite a bottom-10 defensive rating.

Their shooting has been incredible, as the team is second in effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage. This is a product of some great 3-point shooting, coming namely from Jared Dudley and D’Angelo Russell, who are both shooting over 40 percent for a combined 3.7 makes a game, as well as Joe Harris and Allen Crabbe, who are both shooting over 50 percent from deep for a combined 6.3 triples a game.

A big part of Brooklyn’s success has come from getting the most out of the role players as well. Rodions Kurucs has proven he is worthy of minutes on the team, especially considering the need for head coach Kenny Atkinson to remain flexible with rotations at times.

In three starts over this run, Kurucs has scored in the double digits twice, including a career-high 15-point game against the Washington Wizards.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has been a crucial factor for the team and has played over 30 minutes in four of the six games. Through the last six contests, he is averaging 14.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 44.8 percent shooting. The athleticism he adds to the team has helped them mask defensive worries.

No player on the team has helped keep the defense afloat more so than Jarrett Allen, however. During this run he is putting up averages of 10.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 23.0 minutes per game while shooting 64.1 percent from the floor. Enough cannot be said about what he provides for this team down low at times. He is one of only four players to average more than 1.5 blocks per game while shooting over 60 percent from the field over the last six games.

The Brooklyn Nets have kept the train rolling along and it has been good enough to move them into 10th place in the East — only 1.5 games out of a playoff spot.

Six games is a small sample size, but as they take on the Chicago Bulls tonight, the team will look to extend the longest active win streak in the league.