Incompetence towards the East continued for the Nets, as did their distress towards the Magic.
The Nets suffered a 100-92 loss to Orlando on Sunday afternoon earlier than a crowd of 16,505 at Barclays Heart.
The defeat dropped them to 9-12. It additionally marked their fifth straight loss to the Magic and noticed them fall to 3-11 towards the Jap Convention, which isn’t precisely full of powerhouses aside from Boston and Cleveland.
Granted, the Nets had been shorthanded, taking part in with out main scorer Cam Thomas (hamstring), plus-minus chief Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle) and key frontcourt reserves Noah Clowney and Day’Ron Sharpe. That confirmed up on the boards.
The Nets had been hammered, 52-33, on the glass and outscored, 53-38, within the paint.
Cam Johnson scored a team-high 25 factors, and Dennis Schroder added 20 and 7 assists in his return from private go away. It wasn’t sufficient to beat their deficiencies within the paint and on the boards.
Ben Simmons additionally left with a knee contusion and didn’t return.
Franz Wagner had 20 factors, 9 rebounds and eight assists to steer Orlando (15-7).
The sport was knotted at 83-all earlier than a 3-pointer from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope broke the impasse for good.
Schroder fed Johnson for a fast-break dunk to chop the deficit to at least one. However the Nets surrendered six unanswered factors and by no means challenged once more.
A Wendell Carter dunk made it 88-85 Orlando with 5:13 remaining. Then Schroder was whistled for a cost on Wagner, and Carter (14 factors, seven rebounds) made a pair of free throws with 4:33 to play.
After Nic Claxton had a nasty move stolen by Caldwell-Pope, the Magic wing scored a layup the opposite means. The Nets trailed, 92-85, with 4:09 left in regulation.
Claxton finally was ejected for a Flagrant 2 with 18.1 seconds left.
The Nets largely held Wagner in test. The German ahead was a horrid 4 of 17 from the ground and 0 of 6 from behind the arc.
The Nets had been outscored by 38 factors of their earlier two conferences with the Magic, a 116-101 loss on Oct. 25 in Orlando and 123-100 loss Friday in Brooklyn. Wagner scored 29 in every sport.
“Obviously, our focus has to be better throughout the whole game. We were fighting and competing three minutes to go in the second. They went on a 13-0 run and that was the first separation they created,” head coach Jordi Fernandez mentioned. “After which out of the locker room at halftime, they punched once more, and we couldn’t reply.
“We turned it over a lot, 20 times overall for 34 points. So those are the little things we have to do better. And how we do it, right? So, we couldn’t contain them. We couldn’t protect our paint. We couldn’t defend the 3-point line. So, all those things that we know and we’ve watched and we’re willing to do better in this third time that we play them.”
In contrast to these contests, this one had loads of ebbs and flows, and it was shut all through.
After Schroder’s free throw put the Nets up, 53-52, with 10:41 left within the third, they allowed a 12-2 run.
Wagner capped it with a free throw to place Orlando up, 64-55, with 6:32 remaining within the quarter.
However the Nets rode a four-minute, 17-6 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters. Schroder put them again forward, 76-75, and the sport went back-and-fourth till the Magic seized it within the waning moments.
