It was a becoming finish to the season for the Nets.
After a yr that noticed them pull out wins when their followers rooted for them to tank, they misplaced when a victory would’ve really helped them within the draft.
And it was in opposition to their archrival no much less, blowing a lead and falling 113-105 to the Knicks earlier than a sellout crowd of 17,926 at Barclays Middle that included group proprietor Joe Tsai.
The Nets (26-56) completed with the league’s sixth-worst report and the lottery’s sixth-best odds.
Due to final summer season’s Mikal Bridges commerce, additionally they maintain the Knicks’ first-round choose, which fell to twenty sixth after Sunday’s consequence.
If the Nets had held on in opposition to their rival, the choose would’ve been in a five-way tie for twenty second. As an alternative they suffered a expensive defeat and did so relying totally on gamers who could also be in several uniforms subsequent season, or at greatest on the top of the bench.
“I [told them] I was proud of them for the season, the work they put in, the good intentions they’ve had,” mentioned head coach Jordi Fernández. “You know what we’ve built so far, and we have to keep moving on and keep working. And I was very, very happy for the guys. Obviously, [we] wanted to win that game but couldn’t make it happen.”
Bridges, who the Nets traded throughout the East River for a report 5 first-round picks and a swap, began and received ambivalent boos from the house crowd. However he wasn’t the previous Web who got here again to hang-out his previous group.
Landry Shamet carried the backup-heavy Knicks with a game-high 29 factors on 7-of-13 from deep in opposition to his previous membership. Cam Payne added 21.
Trendon Watford and Tyrese Martin shared team-high honors for the Nets with 20 factors and 7 rebounds every.
Jalen Wilson, who led the group in minutes Sunday with 37:58 and this season with 2,031, added 18 factors.
Nic Claxton began as standard, however sat the whole fourth. And there have been a bunch of children preventing to impress earlier than the rebuild begins in earnest with this summer season’s 4 first-round rookies.
“This summer, I was probably on my way out of my NBA career … Then, I just stuck with the grind, and the work started showing in games, and I got an opportunity,” Martin mentioned. “They say you just need one coach to believe in you, and I feel like Jordi was that guy for me; [he] gave me a chance.”
The Nets led by 10 earlier than permitting an prolonged 23-5 Knicks run within the third quarter. They by no means recovered.
Keon Johnson discovered Wilson for a 3 that put the Nets up 74-64 with 8:38 left within the interval. However that’s after they let the Knicks seize the momentum for good.
Miles McBride began the run with a 3-pointer. And two-way Kevin McCullar Jr.’s free throws capped it with 2:28 left within the third.
The Nets trailed 87-79 and by no means led once more. They had been nonetheless down 105-98 with 5 minutes to play after McCullar’s layup. They tried to rally when Wilson discovered Drew Timme — who performed the fourth quarter with Claxton sitting — then hit Watford for a 3-pointer.
That pulled the Nets inside a deuce with 4 minutes remaining however no nearer.
Noah Clowney, Cam Johnson, D’Angelo Russell, Day’Ron Sharpe and Cam Thomas, Reece Beekman and Ziaire Williams had been out.
The Knicks performed sans Karl-Anthony Cities, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.
The Nets have dropped 10 straight vs. the Knicks. That’s the second-longest run within the rivalry, after the Nets’ 11 in a row in the course of the Jason Kidd period.
Sunday’s finale marked Emmy Award-winning Frank DiGraci’s final recreation as YES Community’s coordinating producer for Nets video games. He’d been within the position for 26 years, and obtained a No. 26 Nets jersey from basic supervisor Sean Marks.
DiGraci heads to NBC Sports activities to coordinate their NBA protection.
Bridges prolonged his consecutive video games performed streak going at a league-high 556 with the identical shenanigans he did two years in the past.
In that season finale for the Nets, he performed 4 seconds vs. the 76ers and fouled off the faucet, instantly popping out. Sunday in opposition to his former group, he lasted simply six seconds.
