Brooklyn Nets vs Los Angeles Clippers Prediction: How will the Nets' first game after the landmark deal go?

Brooklyn is on fire again, a tradition in recent years. Kyrie Irving, who requested a trade, moved to Dallas. How will the Nets' first game be after the landmark trade? It looks like they'll have a tough time winning, as one of the strongest teams of the season, the Los Angeles Clippers, will come to Barclays Center.

The Nets also traded Markieff Morris to Dallas as part of the Kyrie Irving trade. In return, the New York team got Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie. On the one hand, Brooklyn lost one of the biggest stars of the modern NBA. On the other, they gave up a very toxic player and gained two great role players. It seems like an excellent trade for the Nets.

Brooklyn played their last game without Irving and beat Washington 125:123 at home. Edmond Sumner added 23 points. This meeting has shown that Brooklyn has someone to play with without Kyrie Irving or even Kevin Durant.

Before their game at Barclays Center, the team visited Madison Square Garden, another New York sports palace home to the New York Knicks. The Clippers led by as many as 17 points early in the fourth quarter. Still, they had wasted their lead and eventually took the game to overtime only before the final buzzer, thanks to an accurate three-pointer by Nicolas Batum. The Knicks didn't have enough strength, and the Clippers still made it 134:128 (115:115), their seventh win in the last nine games. They are in great shape, but their opponent's comebacks, similar to the 104:105 loss to Milwaukee in their road game against the Knicks, are troubling.

Bookmakers are massively underestimating the total for the upcoming game. It's almost as if without Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn will have no one to play on offense. However, the Nets' previous meeting against Washington proved far from the case. The Clippers' defense is much better than that of the Wizards, but we shouldn't forget that Tyrone Lu's squad will play their sixth consecutive road game, which is not ideal for a high concentration on the court. We'll take the total over here, and we also have faith in the reinvigorated Nets - the New York team could very well pull off a surprise in the upcoming game.