LOS ANGELES — The Nets’ loss Wednesday blew proper previous horrific to historic.
The largest beating in staff historical past.
One of many High 10 worst routs in NBA historical past.
And in the long run, a 126-67 thrashing by the hands of the Clippers on the glistening new Intuit Dome that has already develop into a home of horrors for Brooklyn.
It’s a consequence that can stick within the Nets’ craw.
Or at the very least it ought to.
“You just feel like you’re not doing your job, honestly,” stated heart Nic Claxton, who completed with two factors on 1-of-7 taking pictures in 16:35 after being questionable with hamstring tightness. “We’ve all got a lot of pride, so we’ve just got to be better. And we can’t lose like this, though. Definitely can’t happen.”
Claxton was the one confirmed starter on the ground for Brooklyn, which has dropped six of its final seven. They performed with out main scorer Cam Thomas, shooter Cam Johnson and level guards D’Angelo Russell and Ben Simmons.
“Damn, I don’t know if I ever lost by this much. It’s frustrating. It’s definitely frustrating. And I feel like we’ve been getting beat by a lot lately, if I’m being honest,” Claxton stated. “But we’re getting some guys back, and we’ve just got to keep fighting. Have short-term memory.”
It was by far probably the most lopsided rout in Nets historical past. And it’ll absolutely be some of the humbling in current reminiscence, even by the requirements of a tanking staff.
The Nets trailed by a mind-bending 64 factors with 5 ½ minutes to play, on tempo for the fourth-worst in NBA historical past. Solely a late push noticed them find yourself as tied for the Tenth-worst — and received them previous their lowest-scoring output in franchise historical past, the 62 factors they had been held to by Cavaliers on Jan. 28, 1997.
After all the document was a 73-point loss by Oklahoma Metropolis in 2021, and the Thunder now are a league-best 33-6. However the Nets (14-27) are simply beginning their rebuild.
“This is not the time to point or deflect anything,” Jordi Fernandez stated. “It’s time for everyone to personal, and I’ll personal first. The blokes saved combating; I don’t suppose that they stop. And it’s a type of days that you just don’t do something proper, you don’t have that proper power and togetherness. However you attempt to you simply want a bit of bit extra focus and all these items.
“We’ve always fought through the end, cut leads, competed, and I am proud of this group of guys, and I know they’ll show up and work the next day. So, it’s all we can do right now is have a positive but also a competitive mindset where this has to hurt and you don’t want to be in this situation again.”
Jalen Wilson had 16 factors, and Day’Ron Sharpe added 12 factors and 14 boards.
“It was one of those games,” Sharpe stated.
It was solely becoming that the YES Community crew needed to fill time and the dialogue turned to the 1,400 bogs at Intuit Dome. The dad jokes write themselves.
The worst beating in Nets franchise historical past had been by 52 factors by the hands of Houston on Oct. 18, 1978. That was again once they had been the New Jersey Nets. The Clippers virtually ran them again to Jersey on Wednesday night time.
The Nets misplaced contact early and by no means fought again. They let the Clippers go on an prolonged 66-13 run to fall behind 90-38 with 5 minutes remaining within the third quarter. The one drama within the fourth was merely to see how historically-bad this beating was going to get.
Kawhi Leonard had 23 factors on 8-of-11 taking pictures and was a career-high plus-46 regardless of logging simply 24 minutes. These had been greater than sufficient.
Former Web star James Harden dominated his former staff with 21 factors and 11 assists. He had six dimes within the first half — as many as Brooklyn had as a staff.
Noah Clowney received ejected for a second technical, typical of a irritating night time.
