SALT LAKE CITY — The Nets flushed a comeback on the finish of regulation with a blown defensive protection on the finish of additional time.
When it was over, Brooklyn suffered a 112-111 loss to Utah earlier than a sellout crowd of 18,175 on the Delta Middle on Sunday.
And so they don’t need to hear a factor about pingpong balls, or lottery seeding. Not after this one.
“I know this is kind of like a rebuild situation, but we’ve got to go in there like we want to win regardless of what the front office is expecting,” Ben Simmons stated.
“No moral victories. I’m pissed off. We should have won but we just gotta keep chopping,” added Nic Claxton. “We’ve been losing a lot, and everybody’s tired of losing. They sat out all their players and we still lost.”
It was Claxton that was proper in the midst of the pivotal endgame. He had 14 factors and 12 rebounds on a stable evening, however — with the Nets up 111-110 with a foul to present, and having mentioned it within the timeout with 6.4 seconds left in additional time — didn’t impede Isaiah Collier as he drove for an all-too-easy go-ahead layup.
“I should’ve fouled him,” Claxton stated. “[Jordi Fernandez] told us in the timeout. So I should have fouled. It’s really that simple. So they would have to either run a different play. So I should have fouled.”
The drive by Collier (23 factors, seven assists and 7 boards) proved to be the sport winner.
Collin Sexton had 5 of his game-high 23 factors in additional time.
The Nets (13-26) have dropped 5 straight, and eight of 9.
They’ve dedicated to constructing by the draft, with 4 first-round picks in June. And sitting fifteenth within the draft standings a month in the past earlier than buying and selling away Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith, they’re now sixth within the lottery odds.
The Nets have moved a half recreation forward of seventh-place Portland, whom they go to Tuesday. And so they had been 3 ½ video games behind the fifth-place Jazz, however shaved that to 2 ½ with Sunday’s loss.
Brooklyn additionally misplaced the newest assembly with the Jazz, on Dec. 21 at Barclays Middle. It kicked off a 2-10 stretch and a slide down the Japanese Convention standings however a climb up the lottery ladder.
Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler, who’d mixed for 40 factors and 17 rebounds in Utah’s final recreation, each sat out towards the Nets. It didn’t matter. The Nets have been with out Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson and D’Angelo Russell as nicely.
Offense was as exhausting to return by as can be anticipated.
On Sunday, they needed to depend on lately signed two-way participant Tosan Evbuomwan (team-high 22 factors) and Ziaire Williams (19 factors) to hold the scoring load.
Simmons, in simply his second recreation again, had 14 factors, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. He logged 31:38 earlier than surpassing his minutes restrict and giving solution to Evbuomwan within the additional stanza.
The Nets led 70-67 with 4 minutes left within the quarter on Tyrese Martin’s dunk. However that’s after they misplaced management of the sport. The Nets conceded a 15-4 run over the following two minutes.
They discovered themselves down 82-74 with 1:32 left following a dunk by Collier.
Trailing 102–96 with two minutes left after Sexton’s free throws, the Nets closed with six unanswered factors to power additional time.
That’s the place the Nets misplaced it. They shot simply 3-of-11 and 0-of-3 from deep.
“Both plays on defense and offense, they didn’t work the way we wanted to. So I have to be better with being clear with what we want, the execution. So those two plays on me,” Fernandez stated. “Effort, resiliency, finally connecting in that fourth quarter. So happy with that run at the end. We were just not good enough. And that’s what happens in the NBA.”
