The most important Nets crowd ever at Barclays Middle noticed Steph Curry draw cheers of MVP and ship the house crew crashing to a sixth straight defeat.
And most have been advantageous with that.
That’s the sort of season that is, with Brooklyn’s 121-119 loss to the Warriors earlier than a file sellout crowd of 18,413 hurting the file however serving to the tank.
The Nets raced out to a 22-point cushion solely to see Curry (game-high 40 factors, 7-of-13 from deep) erase it one long-range bomb at a time.
And when it was over, Brooklyn (21-41) had fallen three video games behind victorious Chicago for the ultimate Jap Convention play-in spot.
However extra importantly, they’d stored tempo with Philadelphia in a tie for sixth within the lottery standings and moved inside a recreation of No. 5 Toronto.
Cam Johnson led the Nets with 26 factors, whereas Cam Thomas added 23 and 7 assists.
The Warriors (35-28) received 25 factors, six assists and much-needed grit from Jimmy Butler, who’s 10-1 of their lineup since being acquired from Miami.
Brooklyn buried the Warriors early — they only forgot to kill them first.
in opposition to the Nets on March 6. Robert Sabo for the NY Put up
They roared out of the gate and raced forward 27-5 with 4:39 left within the first quarter on a hook by Nic Claxton (eight factors, 9 rebounds, career-high 10 assists).
Brooklyn hit a white-hot 10 of its first 11 pictures and harassed the Warriors into lacking 11 of their first 13 with 5 turnovers.
However it didn’t final.
in opposition to the Nets on March 6. Getty Photographs
The Nets nonetheless led 56-42 with three minutes left within the half however allowed a Golden State blitz, coughing up 10 unanswered factors in simply 1:23 to see that cushion minimize to only 4.
A Curry 38-foot turnaround with 0.3 left within the half over a double crew and the outstretched arms of the 6-foot-8 Johnson and 6-foot-9 Ziaire Williams — absurd even by his requirements — made it 60-55 on the break.
And that vast early lead formally was gone when Butler capped a 10-2 run with a 3-pointer that put Brooklyn in a 68-65 gap with 9:20 left within the third.
Brooklyn steadied the ship and clawed again forward however gave up a 17-6 run that spanned into the fourth and basically ended the competition.
The Nets trailed 97-91 with 7 ½ minutes left and couldn’t recover from the hump.
They received inside 119-117 on Thomas’ 35-footer with 10 seconds left, however no nearer.
Noah Clowney has had his first 5-on-5 exercise as he tries to return from his ankle harm.
