Even with their laundry list of deficiencies, topped off by some injury news that frankly feels annoying rather than upsetting at this point, the Brooklyn Nets still trotted into Motor City tonight with a more than solid chance to snag a win.
In most games, Brooklyn’s happy just to have that — a punchers’ chance. Sitting tight with 25 wins in March, Brooklyn’s no Tyson, Ali, or Mayweather, though that’s well-documented at this point.
The Detroit Pistons are in a similar boat. While they’ve broken out of the historic losing slide they were in the last time we saw them, Detroit is still more associated with the letter “L” than any other team. They came into tonight’s contest being one of only two teams with 50 of them on their ledger.
But even up against a team in their weight class, Brooklyn ended up on the mat tonight — and even further away from a Play-In tournament berth.
Final: Detroit Pistons 118, Brooklyn Nets 112
Despite being 60+ games deep into the season, we got a newish-look Nets team to start this evening, but you wouldn’t have known that from the early box score.
Brooklyn came out of the gates with a starting five of Dennis Schröder, Dennis Smith Jr., Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Nic Claxton. But despite it being a never-before-seen starting unit, old issues persisted. With just three shooters out there, it mirrored the production, or lack thereof, created out by Brooklyn’s original projected starting five for the season with Simmons and Johnson in for Schröder and Smith Jr.
With DSJ lacking a jumper beside Claxton, the lack of spacing had Brooklyn’s offense moving like cement through a paper straw. They had nothing to show on the scoreboard as a result, going down 8-0 after almost four minutes of first quarter burn. At one point in the first they even trailed by 18 points.
“We can’t start getting down by 18,” Kevin Ollie said postgame. “It’s the second game in a row. We had an opportunity to come back the last game, but we can’t keep living in that world. We responded very well but it puts so much pressure on everything you do. We got to start the quarters out in the beginning fighting, hunting in the right way.”
It wasn’t until Lonnie Walker IV, a shooter of course, checked in for Smith Jr. that the Nets broke the ice. On a drive-and-kick three, Walker IV found nylon, igniting what would be another marquee night for the journeyman guard.
For Ollie, that sub only kickstarted some excessive, but necessary lineup expirmentation for Brooklyn given how dreadful the offense looked. A total of nine players logged minutes in the first for Brooklyn, even garbage-time mainstay Keita Bates-Diop.
Alas, the right formula continuously evaded Kevin Ollie. Brooklyn being unable to find solid stretches of offensive and defensive production that did not come at the other’s expense became a theme for the game. Brooklyn also ended the first down 26-16 with more turnovers (6) than total made field goals (5).
But the Schröder x Claxton pick-and-roll, perhaps Brooklyn’s best offensive action post-trade deadline, helped them stay afloat past that point. After seeing a few go through, Brooklyn began started to generate points in a few odd, but effective ways nonetheless.
After all, beggars can’t be choosers, and the Nets have had a tin can sitting out at their feet with “offense” written on if for some time now.
The fun started when Dennis Smith Jr. checked back in and clanked a corner three of the side of the backboard. But in DaSmithWay style, he didn’t give up on the play, picked the rebounder’s pocket, and kicked to DFS for an open three. The play after that, Finney-Smith banked in a floater head on from the cylinder. The next time down the floor, Lonnie Walker tapped into the force with this finish.
Walker IV, like lighthouse on a foggy night, guided the Nets through the second from that point on. The team shot 12-17 from the field during the frame, as Walker dropped in 13 points while shooting 5-8 from the field. The Nets clawed their way to a 57-54 halftime lead. Their splits rebounded from .263/.143 in the first to .537/.476, illustrating a true tale of two quarters.
“I was proud of our guys by hanging in there and coming out in the second quarter and having a 41 point quarter,” said Ollie. “It showed a lot of resiliency, but we cannot put ourselves behind an eight ball like that in games and expect to win, especially on the road.”
Walker IV started the third instead of Smith Jr., as Ollie seemed to learn his spacing lesson. Though but in the second half, it was Schröder’s turn to carry. The FIBA MVP nearly took a number of Detroit defenders out of their shoes in period three, often changing speeds with the ball in hand before finally darting toward the basket.
Schröder finished the period 12 points, hitting two more triples to stay a perfect 5-5 from deep by that point. For the game he tallied a season-high 31 points along with eight assists while going 12-17 on field goals and 5-7 from deep.
But without DSJ to start the second half, the Nets understandably lost some defensive punch. The point of attack became something of a revolving door as Mikal Bridges struggled on both sides of the ball tonight, finishing with just 13 points while going 4-11 from the field.
“He will prevail, he will get stronger, he’ll get through this” said Ollie of Bridges’ struggles. “It’s making him stronger. And it hurts when you don’t have CT (Cam Thomas) or CJ (Cam Johnson), where they’re double teaming you and you expect him to be superman but he’s just not superman. All the game plan is to him, to take him out of the game, and I think in this opportunity he can learn through this.”
Eating up the freed space were opposing guards Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, who both enjoyed fine outings. The former first overall pick finished with 32 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds while shooting 4-8 from deep. Ivey added 34 points, shooting 10-17 on fields goals and 6-9 from deep.
The paint also proved to be an area of exploitation for Detroit, where they outscored Brooklyn 56-42. They also pulled down 13 offensive rebounds, with the Nets giving up 23 second chance points. That allowed the Pistons this time to stay afloat even with rogue waves in the shape Schröder and Walker IV hitting them at different times.
“The biggest difference maker was probably the rebounding,” Claxton agreed postgame. “We all just gotta do a good job of just hitting somebody. We can also do better on the offensive glass. I need to do better on the offensive glass for sure I think I’m probably averaging like one rebound in the last 10 games, so I need to do better. And defensively, everybody’s gotta take pride in getting rebounds.”
“It felt like they hit all threes on us too man,” said Finney-Smith of the second chance points given up. “We want Clax to do his job but sometimes they put us in a bind because we got to help him. We also got to guard our yard. Keep guys out of that paint. I felt like you got to put two on (Jalen) Duren and (Isaiah) Stewart, and them guards are just flying in, getting all those little chippies around the free throw line.”
By way of an 11-0 run, Detroit went up 85-81 going into the fourth. The two basement-dwelling teams stood guns pointed at each other for much of the final frame, still threatening, but neither making any moves to seize the momentum. Only a bucket separated each squad halfway through the final period.
That was, until Detroit went on a 9-0 burst around the five minute mark. After giving Cade Cunningham a trip to the stripe, neither Schröder nor Walker put on body on him during the next possession, allowing him to go coast-to-coast for jam that put the Pistons up six. A rimmed out Walker IV three and a splashed one from Ivey then saw Detroit take a 107-98 lead.
By that point, Cunningham was able to smell the victory and pursued it like a great white, getting to his spots time and time down the floor to keep Brooklyn at arm’s length while the time trickled down. Brooklyn played the foul game after that, and although a Dorian Finney-Smith triple opened the door momentarily, rare misses from Schröder and Walker between two free throws from Ivey finally sank their ship.
Milestone Watch
Amid the loss, Brooklyn still had a few notable performances. As you’d expect many belong to Schröder.
- Schröder has totaled a season-high 31 points, making it the 19th 30-point game of his career and the sixth team Schroder has posted a 30-point game for in his career.
- Schröder also buried a season-high-tying five 3-pointers, done twice previously (2/29 vs. Atlanta and 11/17 with Toronto vs. Boston).
- Schröder has had his two highest scoring performances of the season now vs Detroit (30 PTS - with Toronto - 12/30 at Detroit and 27 PTS - with Brooklyn - tonight at Detroit)
- After starting the game 4-of-4 from distance, Schröder at the time shot 28-of-54 (51.9%) from 3-point range as a Net. Since his Nets debut on 2/10 vs. San Antonio, he leads the league in 3-point percentage with a minimum of 50 attempts.
- The Nets tallied 20 points off 12 Detroit turnovers in tonight’s first half, that’s the most points scored off turnovers in any half for Brooklyn this season.
- The second quarter tonight saw Brooklyn score their third most points in a quarter on the road all season with 41. They hit 42 twice, 10/30 at Charlotte and on 1/11 at Cleveland (in Paris). This was also their ninth 40-point quarter of the season, third on the road. It was their second-highest scoring second quarter of the season (44 points - 11/26 vs. Chicago).
- With five threes of the bench tonight, Walker IV now has the eighth most threes made by a Net off the bench in a season with 94.
Injury Update
Brooklyn’s biggest news today came from the injury department, as the team announced the shutting down of Ben Simmons for the remainder of the season. The team cited Simmons’ ongoing nerve impingement in his back as their reason for shelving him.
“Ben Simmons will remain out for the remainder of the season while he consults with specialists and explores treatment options for the nerve impingement in his lower back,” the team said in its statement. “Simmons, along with his representatives and Nets medical personnel, are currently in discussions with numerous experts to determine the course of action that will provide him with the best opportunity for long-term sustainable health.
“I know he has a lot of motions that’s inside of him,” Ollie said of Simmons today. “But he’s been down this road before and I know he’s gonna get prepared with his team, our medical staff, our organization, and we have empathy for him.”
Simmons played in just 15 games this year averaging 6.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game while shooting 58.1 percent from the field. He’s now appeared in 57 of 227 possible games with the Nets. Brooklyn will pay him $40+ Million next year.
In lighter news, Brian Lewis reported that there is “optimism” within the Nets organization that Cam Thomas could return either Saturday at Charlotte or Monday at Cleveland. Thomas has been out since February 26th with what they’re listing as a right ankle/midfoot sprain.
Next Up
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Brooklyn will take on another team outside the Play-In threshold next time out, staying on the road to face the Charlotte Hornets Saturday night. It’ll be the rubber match in a series that saw the Nets get their first win of the season in October, but also drop a sickening one by a point in late November.
Neither team is the same one since these two squads last met. While the Nets have a coaching change a few player trades that have them looking different, Charlotte’s evolved into less of a door mat for the East. They own the league’s seventh best defensive rating in their last 10 games and have also collected nearly a third of their wins for the season over that stretch as a result.
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Brooklyn Nets fumble another chance to make play-in ground, lose to Detroit Pistons, 118-112 - Nets Daily
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