The Brooklyn Nets had no interest in celebrating the holiday tomorrow. No costumes. No masks. Tonight, they came as they were — a young team still trying to figure it out.
And, against an Eastern conference contender, that’s not enough to challenge for a win.
The Nets did change up their look in another sense, although it wasn’t by choice. With Egor Dëmin out for at least a week with a bone bruise in his right leg, Chaney Johnson started in his place. And no, it’s not like he played the four or five
and everyone slid up a slot. Like a true two-guard, Johnson started possessions guarding Amen Thompson and Duncan Robinson at the top of the key tonight.
And guess what? It worked. The Nets led for the entire first period as their size and switching appeared to give Detroit fits. Johnson was a +3 with three points, a blocked shot, and a steal in six minutes.
Despite the Pistons coming into tonight with the seventh best 3-point percentage in the league, and the Nets allowing the seventh highest to their opponents, Detroit shot just 1-9 from deep in the first.
After his breakout turned blunderous night in Boston, Mikel Brown Jr. was Brooklyn’s ninth man off the bench this evening, not checking in until the 3:32 mark of the first. The offense continued to hum with him at the helm. Struggling from deep themselves following a 2-11 start, the Nets had look elsewhere for offense. With Julius Randle having an easy time burrowing inside and Mo Wagner ready to eat out of the dunker’s spot, Brooklyn outscored Detroit in the paint 18-14 in the period.
While Wagner’s been an offensive bright spot of late, his game tonight had a few dark speckles. After getting free for an uncontested dunk early in the second, Wagner couldn’t flush it all the way down, and the ball rattled out leading to an easy three on the break for Kevin Huerter. The five point swing introduced a 15-5 Pistons run that gave them the lead.
It’s not like it was all Wagner’s fault. The Nets shot just 3-14 from the field in the second, resorting to isolation possessions that ended in contested shot attempts on one too many occasions. Brooklyn also continued to look out of sync and downright slow with its off-ball defense tonight, over-helping in the gap at other points as well As a result, the Pistons also rebounded to shoot 5-9 deep in the second, and carried a 56-49 lead into the break.
Julius Randle hit a triple and then found Johnson above the rim to help Brooklyn cut the lead back to six after Detroit had opened the period with a 9-3 jolt…
But then, after only committing eight turnovers in the entire first half, the Nets gave it up six times in the third’s first six minutes. That, paired with another poor shooting period, made it a 20+ point lead entering the fourth for the Pistons.
Through three, Randle shot 4-13, Traoré shot 3-10, and Brown Jr. shot 0-6. Michael Porter Jr. and Wagner were the only men with a field goal percentages north of 50% and with more than two field goals. That’s just not going to cut it.
So, in the fourth, we were treated to our first Terrance Mann minutes of the year. Danny Wolf joined him on the floor alongside Brown Jr. as we made that familiar shift from competition to developmental minutes at the Barclays Center. Getting most of his points at the line, MBJ was able to grind his way into a more appealing stat line by the end of it, finishing with 10 points and four assists while shooting 2-9 from the field and 6-8 from the stripe.
But of all the end-of-game minute eaters, Wolf looked the most hungry out there, chipping in nine points, six rebounds and two assists in the fourth quarter. Drake Powell, who the team called up this afternoon and logged six minutes, assisted on two baskets but did not score himself.
The Nets are 0-5.
Final: Detroit Pistons 110, Brooklyn Nets 94
Next Up
Brooklyn will get another shot at the Indiana Pacers next, who they lost to at home last Sunday by 20+ points. This time, it’s on the road, and Tyrese Haliburton won’t be involved. Hali is set to miss at least two weeks with a left hamstring strain. The contest tips off at 5:00 p.m. EST.
