Midway through the second quarter of the Brooklyn Nets’ Friday night duel with the Los Angeles Clippers, Brook Lopez tipped a pass intended for Nic Claxton at the top of the key. Lopez tracked down the ball
in stride and, mining every ounce of energy in his 37-year-old body, took it coast-to-coast for a layup over Claxton. Plus the foul. Lopez and his teammates could only chortle at the scene…
Brooklyn is the NBA’s youngest team, Los Angeles the NBA’s oldest. Every once in a while, the Clippers’ interest level would wane, and they’d look their age. They opened the second half turning the ball over with the alertness of a texting driver. Brooklyn grabbed __ offensive rebounds on the night, the Clippers just ___. The other hustle stats were about even: deflections, steals, blocks, fast-break points.
So Lopez did sip from the fountain of youth, while James Harden (__) and Kawhi Leonard (__) were drunk off it, but the Clippers didn’t run the Nets out of the gym. They just didn’t need to.
The Clippers scored on autopilot. Harden did most of his damage in the first half; Leonard did most of his in the second. In an attempt to stop the two future Hall-of-Famers, Jordi Fernández sent plenty of early double-teams and outright traps at them; his players were not up to the challenge…
John Collins shot 7-of-9 with three or four highlight dunks, Jordan Miller nearly matched his career-high with 21 points, and the Clippers as a whole shot 60% from two, 58% from three, and 90% from the line. Leonard and Harden made some All-NBA shots, but this was the fate the Nets deserved.
When asked if the team’s defensive effort was up to his standards, Jordi Fernández said: “At times it was ,at times it wasn’t. Especially in the first half, getting out of the of the doubles, we were very slow. And when you’re slow, then you get wide open shots. And even though you rather have other guys shooting instead of Kawhi and James, they still very good NBA players, and they shoot wide open shots and then make them.”
Fernández’s team may have been able to keep up had they shot better than 32% from deep. Michael Porter Jr. could not get it going, shooting 7-of-20 and 0-of-9 from deep, but he was far from the only culprit for the poor offensive night.
“I’m not worried about it,” said Fernández. “This is a game that some of those shots go in, and we are — I think we fought all the way through — but we could have been closer, and that’s sometimes part of the game, right?”
He also added that it’ll be another “five years” before MPJ has another 0-of-9 night from three.
The only starter who scored halfway effectively was the near-hero of Wednesday’s loss, Egor Dëmin. Continuing his Klay Thompson impression, he led the Nets in scoring with 19/3/3 on 5-of-10 from three…
Danny Wolf also shot 3-of-5 from deep to score 11 points, though some of it came in garbage time, where Nolan Traore also made a couple nice plays. It’s tough to blame them (and the scoreless Drake Powell) for not producing more as a part of a Cam Thomas-led second unit, though.
Fernández didn’t take the bait postgame, complimenting the second unit and even praising Thomas (13/1/1, four turnovers) on his playmaking ability. But at some point…
The Nets were going to lose this one no matter how often Thomas passed the ball, but as the trade deadline looms, his time in Brooklyn feels done. The situation isn’t untenable, exactly; it’s just not beneficial for anybody involved.
And so, another game come and gone. The fans at Barclays Center largely got what they came for, ooh-ing and aah-ing at increasingly impressive Kawhi buckets and even standing up for a Dëmin dunk attempt that he was fouled on. But a thrilling ending for the second game in a row?
Yeah, that wasn’t in the cards.
Final Score: Los Angeles Clippers 121, Brooklyn Nets 105
MPJ All-Star push heats up
We are just one month away from NBA All-Star Weekend, two results of fan voting in. Currently, Michael Porter Jr. sits in ninth-place among Eastern Conference vote-getters, though he is a ways away from moving up and in danger of falling down the ladder…
For all the silliness of the All-Star Game itself (a round robin Frankenstein with a USA vs. World theme) the process of becoming an All-Star is unchanged: Five starters from each conference will be chosen by a fan vote (50%), the media (25%) and current players (25%), while head coaches will pick seven reserves from each conference regardless of position.
Thus, MPJ’s fate will come down to the head coaches, but if fan voting is any indication, he’s on the right side of the bubble. Said Jordi Fernández pregame: “I mean, he’s an All-Star. He’s played like an All-Star. You just got to watch him play and how much better he’s gotten. He’s been in a different role, he’s proven he can do it. And it’s not just the shot-making, which I think like, if you’re an NBA fan, you just watch Michael take and make shots, right? It’s how he’s been working off the ball to get those shots, also rebounding, career-high rebounding and free-throw attempts and assists.”
He continued: “We’ve competed for a lot of games, he’s a big reason why we’re there. And he’s just doing his job, and it’s not about him, it’s about the group. So if you think about his impact on competitiveness, that’s what All-Stars do, and that’s why Mike should be there.”
Zach Lowe and Rob Mahoney, making their All-Star predictions on Thursday’s episode of Lowe’s podcast, agreed with Fernández, each picking MPJ. Lowe even wondered aloud if he was an “undisputed selection.”
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were named All-Stars for the Brooklyn Nets in 2023, though the two were ultimately traded before the actual festivities were held. Excluding that year, the Nets have not had an All-Star since Durant’s selection in 2022, and MPJ indeed seems worthy of ending the drought.
Entering Friday’s game:
- MPJ — appearing in 28 of 34 games — had a net rating swing of +14.4, per Cleaning the Glass (a 96th percentile mark, league-wide), including an offensive rating swing of +11.0 (also in the 96th percentile)
- He was 1 of 6 players averaging 26/7/3 (Avdija, Markkanen, Antetokounmpo, Dončić, Jokić)
- Among the 20 players averaging 25 PPG, Porter Jr. had the 8th-highest TS%.
The Brooklyn Nets have put on the full-court press for MPJ to make the All-Star team, frequently posting on social media and running multiple hype videos on the Jumbotron during home games. Despite Porter Jr.‘s struggles on Friday, they have a point.
Next Up
The Nets hit the road for three games down South. They’ll face the Memphis Grizzlies on the first half of a back-to-back, with tip-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
