The Brooklyn Nets moved around a bit easier on Friday night. For the first time all year, they walked into the Barclays Center fresh off a victory and free from the mental shackles that come from having
a goose egg in your win column. While we can’t expect them to do that often this year, it set the scene for a jubilant start to the weekend. In a rebuilding season, you have to at least be happy with that.
The evening also brought Nets fans their first dosage of NBA Cup action. In the tournament’s two-year run, Brooklyn has yet to advance past the group round, but their efforts to change that this evening were clear from the jump, weaponizing Jordi Fernández’s favorite shot.
Brooklyn began the game 6-8 from deep, largely thanks to Noah Clowney, who continued to tell the law of averages to pay up after his slow start to the season from three. The stretch big hit four triples in less than four minutes to start the game, propelling the Nets into an early 19-9 lead.
Egor Dëmin, who made his first start of the season with Cam Thomas in street clothes, even got in on the action with five first period points. The perfect shooting from floor? Nice to see. The location of the shots? Really nice to see. The eighth overall pick splashed a three and finished inside in the opening frame. I don’t want to make a mountain out of molehill here, but in fairness, concerns about his perimeter shooting percentage in college and volume in the paint to open the season were each both blown into Himalaya-sized proportions. Just for kicks, he also threw four assists in the first.
Dëmin wasn’t the only rook to receive some early burn. Drake Powell, back again from an ankle injury, got some first period run with Day’Ron Sharpe, Ziaire Williams, Tyrese Martin, and Michael Porter Jr., even operating at the point in a few. The lineup may have been -6 in the first, but Powell looked confident pushing the ball down the floor, and most importantly, healthy.
Outside of Cade Cunningham’s made triple to start the scoring tonight, the heavily favored Pistons didn’t’ take their first lead until the 10:53 mark of the second. A flurry of fouls slowed the game down around that point, keeping it a one basket game for almost the entire quarter’s top half.
Energy spiked again though around the five minute mark when Clowney and Dëmin returned with some encore sequences to their first period performances. Almost immediately after checking in, Egor hit a motion triple and then took Ausur Thompson’s lunch a few sequences later. Clowney’s already made notable strides putting the ball on the floor and attacking defenders this season, though none were more impressive than this take on the 6’6”, 220-pound Cunningham…
What seemed like merely a hot shooting night for him turned into what felt like a potential career-game after he started putting the vision on display in the second as well…
That MPJ long ball momentarily gave the Nets back the lead, although Caris LeVert, playing in his eighth game as a Barclays Center visitor tonight, buried his own triple to give Detroit a lead just before halftime. Jalen Duren, who beat Clowney by one point to lead all scorers at the break, padded it to give himself 18 and the Pistons a 60-55 lead.
The second half’s fist two minutes featured five turnovers between the two teams, making it a sloppy restart by all accounts. The Nets more often than not ended up the wrong side of those exchanges, as Detroit slid into a 12-2 start in the third, giving them their largest lead of the contest.
As they did in the first, the Pistons continued to punish Brooklyn inside, blowing their paint advantage up to from 20 to 48 points by the end of the period. Porter Jr. did his best to keep Brooklyn within reach, scoring all eight of Brooklyn’s opening points in the second half. He also drove and dished to Nic Claxton on one play, getting him to the line and Brooklyn to it’s ninth and 10th points. He even made a few plays at the other end, covering down low as the Nets continued to blitz screens.
However, Brooklyn couldn’t get anything going outside of that. While Detroit shot 57% from the field in the frame, the Nets posted .211/.200 splits and were unable to find a proper grip on the ball. After Cunningham poked one away from Sharpe in the high post and flushed it at the other end, the scoreboard showed the Pistons up by an 84-68 score with 3:23 to play in the third. The deficit swelled to 20 by the end the quarter.
The Nets have already established a reputation for staging ferocious comebacks, which J.B. Bickerstaff even alluded to pregame, but after the Nets missed their first four field goal attempts begin the fourth, it became clear we wouldn’t experience that today. Dëmin and Clowney had cooled off, leaving the Brooklyn offense on life support and depending on MPJ heaves like a pacemaker. Meanwhile, Detroit continued its onslaught on the interior with Duran reaching 30 points just after the eight minute mark of the fourth.
Porter Jr. finished the game with 28 points , two assits, and five rebounds after shooting 8-17 from the field and 5-10 from deep. Clowney, adding only two in the second half, got to 19 points shooting 5-13 from the field and 4-8 from deep. Claxton quietly enjoyed another solid outing, chipping in 17 points, eight boards, two dimes, and a rejection. Dëmin reached eight points, seven assists, and three boards shooting 3-8 from the field and 2-5 from deep.
E.J. Liddell and Tyson Etienne checked in around the four minute mark as the Nets officially waived their white flag. The teams collectively kicked the can that was Detroit’s 20-point lead down the road during the game’s final possessions, getting the Pistons a wealthy point differential advantage for potential Cup standings tiebreakers, and the Nets back in first place for early tankathon sims.
Final: Detroit Pistons 125, Brooklyn Nets 107
Injury Report
Cam Thomas met with the media to speak on his hamstring injury pregame. The Nets announced before tipoff that he’d be re-evaluated in 3-4 four weeks. Read his commentary and more here.
Milestone Watch
- Noah Clowney’s 13 points in the first period tonight were his second-most points in any quarter of his career (14 in the 2Q on 4/3/24 vs. IND). Then, his 17 points in the first half were his most points scored in any half in his career (previous high: 15 points twice, both vs. Detroit at Barclays Center – first half on 1/8/25 and second half on 4/6/24).
- With his second offensive rebound tonight, Nic Claxton passed George Johnson for sole possession of 10th in franchise history in offensive rebounds (713).
Next Up
The Nets will head across the river next to play the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon. This “rivalry” hasn’t always felt like one, with neither team contending at the same time since the Nets made the move to Brooklyn. That won’t change this Sunday, but the two teams will do battle regardless. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. EST.
