The Brooklyn Nets’ coogi renaissance was the highlight of the evening tonight at Barclays Center, and that should tell you all you need to know about the team’s 2025-26 season so far.
In fairness, the threads are hot, but the on-court product in the first 10 games was not, and it stayed that way on this already frigid night in Brooklyn.
For a third straight game, Brooklyn ran out first with a five composed of Terance Mann, Noah Clowney, Michael Porter Jr., Egor Dëmin, and Nic Claxton. Again serving
as the team’s interim point guard, Mann made an early and compelling case to remove that title modifier, assisting on three of Brooklyn’s first first five baskets and helping the Nets jet out to a 13-6 advantage.
Early benefactors of Mann’s command of the offense were Claxton and Dëmin. As seen above, Dëmin had the first bucket of the evening. As the face of the team’s rebuild, Nets brass wouldn’t have had it any other way with a few extra eyeballs likely on the team tonight thanks to their decor.
However, it’s understandable if Drake Powell is more to your taste, especially after last game. Following his career night at MSG, Powell again served as the team’s second ball-handler off the bench vs Toronto. He ran into a few brick walls trying to get through the Raptor defense, but like Mann, also made a habit of finding his center, feeding a hungry Clowney in the first. Unlike Powell, Clowney looked to put New York game behind him, generating a few looks for himself in the process…
The Alabama product led all scorers with 12 points in the first, again showing his eagerness to grow beyond just a lengthy floor spacer. He had two shot attempts (three if you count one where got fouled) near the cylinder in the first quarter, keeping the Nets in front 30-28 at the end of the period.
But on Biggie Night, Brooklyn’s reign on the top was short like leprechauns. Toronto and Brooklyn went back and forth to open the second quarter, but the Raptors took a more commanding lead around the five-minute mark of the frame. While the Nets failed to connect on a handful of drive-and-kick threes via Mann and Porter Jr., Toronto put on their running shoes and snagged five points via the fast break.
Two triples from Dëmin, who started the game a perfect 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from deep, kept the Nets within reach, but the Nets still trailed at the break by a 60-52 score.
Despite giving up another 60-piece in the half, Brooklyn’s early defense looked like an improvement from what we’ve seen so far this season. Granted, what we’ve seen so far this season has been like a screen door on a submarine, but let’s try to be positive here. The Nets’ interior defense, if not physical, was pesky, getting hands on a few quick dishes and dump-offs in the paint.
Then, Brooklyn choked on whatever progress they made in that department. Their poor low man defense, a staple in this early season, returned. Toronto quickly went up 70-56 after quick 2-3 start to the third from Brandon Ingram as well.
But Brooklyn again managed to stay in it, getting some rare aid from the officials. Brooklyn had a +10 advantage in attempts and made shots at the stripe in the third. They even got a throw-in from Scottie Barnes, who picked up a technical from the bench, likely upset after picking up a personal right before.
In fact, Brooklyn’s free throw shooting was perfect almost all night, with Brooklyn beginning the game there 23-23. The Raptors couldn’t say the same, as Mr. Whammy forced five misses from the game.
After assisting on another Clowney triple and then finishing a tough one over Ingram the next time down the floor, Mann made it a five point game with 3:31 to go in the third. Then, three more free throws from Porter Jr., who got clipped on an attempt at the top of the key, made it a three-point game.
However, the Raptors eased that pressure after Jamal Shead suck through for a layup at the buzzer that made it six entering the fourth. They used that breathing room to their advantage, running a more controlled halfcourt offense than we’d seen at any other point in the game and getting in front by 13 with about seven and a half to go.
The Nets toyed with a run after another three from Dëmin and five points in three minutes from Porter Jr., who had been experiencing a rocky game from the field up until that point, which got it to eight, but got no further. Brooklyn missed its next five shots. Noah Clowney finally got one to fall with 2:10 to go, but officials waived it off as an offensive foul, which Jordi Fernández challenged, and lost.
Once the green light dimmed, a white flag seemed to emerge, as Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf, and Tyson Etienne checked in right after. The “garbage” minutes weren’t a total waste though, as Wolf got the first points of his NBA career, nailing two free throws with just over a minute to play.
Starting the season 1-0 in the coogi threads would have been fun, even as Brooklyn’s lottery competitors are up-armoring their tanks in the shadows. However, fun isn’t always better, and for the Nets this year, it’ll be a rarity anytime our enjoyment and long term betterment match up.. At least we’re already used to it here in November.
Final: Toronto Raptors 119, Brooklyn Nets 109
Milestone Watch
- With his second made 3-pointer tonight, Egor Dëmin made his 16th in his 10th game as a Net — the most for a Nets rookie in their first 10 games in franchise history (previous high: Bojan Bogdanović’s 15 3FGM through 10 games in 2014-15).
- Dëmin also scored a career-high 16 points tonight. He’s now scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time in his career
Injury Report
The Brooklyn Nets quickly ruled Day’Ron Sharpe out for Tuesday’s game with an injury. However, what was initially listed as “left hamstring tightness” was later updated to a “left glute contusion,” good news for the backup center who dealt with left hammy issues last season.
“No hamstring, right, so it’s a glute contusion and he is day-to-day,” said Jordi Fernández pregame. “So we’re not concerned. And we also want to make sure that he feels good, and mentally in a good place to be ready to play. So that’s all good news.”
Honoring Michael “Sugar” Ray Richardson
Former New Jersey Nets All-Star Michael “Sugar” Ray Richardson passed away on Tuesday morning; he was 70 years old.
Richardson had the basketball career arc and life story of a bygone era, a player who made headlines that are only familiar to us younger basketball fans through YouTube mini-documentaries. Hell, only toward the end of his life did he indicate, with the help of birth records, that his first name was actually spelled M-I-C-H-A-E-L, and not with the ‘E’ before the ‘A’ — though in any case, “Sugar” is sweeter off the tongue.
After growing up in Texas and playing college ball for the University of Montana, Richardson was drafted by the New York Knicks, where he played for four seasons until a trade sent him to the Golden State Warriors. But Richardson lasted on the West Coast for just half-a-season; a trade sent him back to the East Coast, and he finished his NBA career as a New Jersey Net.
Richardson, like many of his contemporaries, struggled with cocaine usage. But after a successful stint in rehab, Sugar won NBA Comeback Player of the year in 1984-1985, averaging over 20 points for the first time in his career, and, with hair on fire and a wingspan covering sideline-to-sideline, leading the NBA in steals per game for the third time in his career.
Midway through next season, NBA Commissioner David Stern banned Richardson from the league for life, a result of his third positive test for cocaine in three years. Though the lifetime ban was eventually rescinded, Sugar never played in the NBA again, rather hooping into his 40s in Europe. At some point during his foreign adventures, he stopped wearing Leather Converse All Stars on the court. (Richardson will forever be the final player to wear those regularly in the NBA.)
Those who knew Richardson best described him as a shy, kind-mannered soul who couldn’t stay out of his own way. Nets fans will remember him as an electric player who put them through the whole gamut of fandom during his time in New Jersey. All NBA fans, though, will remember him as a quote machine.
How’d you get the “Sugar” nickname? “I’m sweet on the court.”
And of course, this response to a question about the state of his struggling Knicks: “The ship be sinkin’.”
The Brooklyn Nets held a pregame moment of silence for Richardson. They did not, however, hold one for Brooklyn legend Lenny Wilkens.
Next Up
Brooklyn hits the road next for a quick weekend getaway that starts in Orlando. Many visualized the Magic as the next team to challenge New York and Cleveland in the East this year, but they’ve gotten off to a sluggish start, sitting at 5-6 at the time of writing. They’ll certainly look to this matchup as a “get right” contest. The Nets haven’t beat the Magic since 2023.
