The Long Island Nets returned to their home court on Monday evening for a showdown with the Stockton Kings. This marked Long Island’s first game on United States soil in four games. After splitting the first stint of the Canada trip, the Long Island team looked to get past the Stockton Kings. Despite a career night from Grant Nelson, Long Island fell to Stockton, 118-112.
This game marked Nelson’s second game back since November 26th. Nelson returned on Friday night when the Nets were in Laval, Quebec,
and while he had a quiet game, he looked much more like himself. Fast forward to Monday, and we saw a career night from the man who has so much hype behind him entering this one. For the first time at the professional level, fans saw that the hype behind him may actually be warranted.
Nelson led the team in scoring with 21 points. He connected on nine of his 12 shot attempts, including draining both his tries from the foul line. This was a career-high for Nelson and was hands down his best showing as a professional basketball player…
After the game, NetsDaily had a chance to speak with Nelson about his performance in this one.
“I think it really shows how good the performance staff is here,” Nelson tells ND. “And what they’ve done to get me back on the court and be ready for when I get back on the court. Overall, it was a good fight from our team. I think we have to eliminate those little lapses we gave up, especially in the third quarter, and just come back, watch film, and be better than that.”
Nelson had missed the past month and a half dealing with a knee issue. While it was enough to keep him out for quite some time, Nelson tells ND that it was nothing out of the norm.
“I’ve been dealing with knee soreness for I don’t know how many years, really, since I started college,” Nelson explained to ND. “It was kind of just affecting how I was playing, and I just had to get it over with and get all the rehab done. Get it back to where it was, feeling 100%. The performance staff did a great job, and everyone really cares about me, which really meant a lot.”
When asked about his biggest strengths, Nelson tells ND that “being an energy guy” is key. “Getting rebounds, playing defense,” Nelson continued. “I think I still have a lot to learn and grow, and continue to get minutes with this team. It’s difficult with guys coming in and coming out and getting called up and stuff, but I think it’s just a lot of room. There’s a lot of season left for us to continue to get better and win a lot more games.”
When asked about his goals for the remainder of the season, Nelson said he really wants to “stay healthy, get a lot of wins, and do what I can to help this team win,” all while improving his own game and how he plays. Despite the loss, this was a very good game for quite a few Long Islanders, Brooklyn’s rookie Ben Saraf included.
Ben Saraf finished the game with 15 points, which was good enough for the third-best on the team. Saraf connected on six of his 14 shots, including going 1-of-3 from deep. While it was far from his 40-point performance the last time we saw Saraf on Long Island, it still was a respectable showing. After the game, ND had a chance to speak with the rookie about his performance in this one.
“First, I’d love to win the game,” Saraf tells ND. “I think the guys did a really good job of fighting back all the way through. For me personally, I think slowing the pace, being more focused on defense, and getting more boards, but overall coming back from the knee injury, so it was okay.” When asked about how his knee is healing up, Saraf said, “It’s fine, a week of rehab, and we’re good now.”
Coming into this season, most of the eyes on Brooklyn had to do with the Flatbush Five: Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Danny Wolf and, Saraf. When asked about how he feels the 2025 NBA Draft class has done up to this point, Saraf says, “For me, it’s really good.” “I’m getting a chance to get more reps, to play a lot, and be really a part of the team here. So, I’m happy for that.”
The most challenging part of this season so far for Saraf has been the number of games. “There are a lot of games,” Saraf said. “A lot of back-to-backs, so I need to get used to it.” However, the most fun part for Saraf is getting to “compete” at the next level. “It was my dream, and I’d love to keep doing it.” (Ironically, Saraf played more games than any of the five — 70 — between the German League and FIBA competition.
Looking ahead for Saraf, his goals for the remainder of the season are simple: improvement. “Just perform well,” Saraf says. “Of course, I want to be with Brooklyn. But when I’m here, I want to get the best out of it. Just to get as many reps as I can and continue to get better.”
David Muoka, the only Hong Kong player in the NBA, came off the bench in this one and arguably had his best game as a Net as well. For quite some time, the jury was out on how Muoka was playing. However, he proved a lot of doubters wrong in this one. Muoka finished this one second on the team in scoring with 17 points, connecting on six of his nine shot attempts. He also had eight rebounds, two assists, and a block to his credit.
Malachi Smith continued his hot play coming off a career-high of 36 points on Friday night. He connected on 14 points, also picking up six rebounds and six assists. As for Nate Williams, he had 12 points in his own right, also tallying six rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block. Terry Roberts scored 11 off the bench.
Next Up
The Long Island Nets (4-5) return to the court on Wednesday with a trip to Washington, D.C. for a showdown with the Capital City Go-Go. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. EST and can be viewed on ESPN+.
