The NBA knew what it was doing when it penciled in the Charlotte Hornets vs the Brooklyn Nets on a Monday night. You’d never want to ruin a Friday, Saturday, or even a Thursday evening with the vibes of what some fans might call a “tank-off.” But when it’s on a Monday, one after a long weekend, you’re at least bundling the bad with the bad.
The Hornets might not be revving their tank’s engine as loud as Brooklyn has this year. They’ve drafted with high picks for years and likely want to see some progress this season rather than improved pick positioning. Still, they brought a 6-14 record in the Barclays Center this evening, and that stunted the game’s competitive spirit leading up to tipoff.
Indeed, it looked like a battle between two basement dwellers seconds into the game. And no, that’s not an exaggeration. Kon Knueppel buried a three almost immediately after the tip when nobody thought to follow the 41% 3-point shooter over to the corner…
With nowhere to go but up after that, Brooklyn did so, but then nosedived over, and over again in a true rollercoaster first period. A few sequences after that opening debacle, Egor Dëmin had about as resilient a 30 second stretch as you’ll see. LaMelo Ball rejected one of his jumpers, but he darted toward the rim to find his own rebound and finish it. Then at the other end, he poked away a pass in the halfcourt before going coast to coast for a modest slam…
Much of Brooklyn’s early offense ran through Dëmin with Terance Mann out tonight, but Ben Saraf and Drake Powell got reps off the bench too. Danny Wolf then followed them into the game at the 4:46 mark of the first, giving us our first opening quarter all season with four rookies logging minutes. Nolan Traore remains with Long Island…
Michael Porter Jr. switched spots tonight with Mann as one of the lone grown-ups at the kids table, coming off the injury report to play for the first time since the Knick game. MPJ was aggressive looking for his shot early, but lacked his usual touch, beginning the game 2-of-7 from the field. So, Nic Claxton, the other adult in the room, handled most of the scoring load, leading everyone after one with eight points. Those efforts, paired with Brooklyn’s +8 advantage in points off turnovers, were enough to keep Brooklyn within one after the first, despite Charlotte shooting better from the field and three.
Then in the second, Porter Jr. shook off the rust, and just about every defender thrown his way. He added 11 points in the period while going 3-of-3 on triples, only beginning what would become a career night for him from deep. However, Brooklyn’s defense contrarily stiffened up in the frame’s top half, as their closeouts proved too slow for the Hornets buzzing around the 3-point line after drive and kick sequences.
Charlotte led by as many as 11 in the second, but right when it looked like they might fly away with the game, the young guns provided enough backup to help Brooklyn pull even. Powell and Clowney combined for 15 points in the second after going 3-5 from deep. Powell’s best moment of the half might’ve come at the other end, leading to zero points as well, but allow this troubled New York Giants fan a moment here…
Despite that missed opportunity, the Nets maintained a 17-8 halftime advantage in points off turnovers and entered the break tied 59-59. They also grabbed 14 second chance points despite being down overall on the glass. Porter Jr. led all scorers with 17 points after totaling five made threes at that point.
“He started a little slow, you know, especially on defensive end, but you guys know, Mike is a threat offensively the whole time, and it’s not just his three point shooting, but also his cutting, and he’s doing a good job finishing his cuts and not over dribbling,” Fernández said of MPJ. “And like I said, our spacing was better, and credit to him. I like when he starts talking to his teammates and tells them what to run. He’s been in this situation before, I think that we benefit from it.”
Big fans of that steal-and-score formula, the Nets kept it going in the second half, snatching 10 points off turnovers. Powell poked away his fourth steal for the game in the process. Those are the most by a Nets rookie since David Duke Jr. in February 2022. The last Brooklyn rookie with five steals in a game was Chris McCullough on six years earlier…
“I thought our ball pressure was much better, and I thought that Zaire and Drake were outstanding with our ball pressure,” Fernández said. “In that second half, I think that the point of the attack, the ball, was handled way better, and I think those two guys did a great job. And then everybody else behind, you know, it was not just one guy that guarded the ball. It was fighting down a string. The communication was there. The multiple efforts were there, so at the end of the day, those are the minutes and possessions that we want to see.”
However, Charlotte copied and pasted another page of Brooklyn’s first half blueprint, beating the Nets in second chance points 12-2 in the third to keep things relatively even. Dëmin picked up his fourth personal foul for the game with 5:38 to go in the third after whacking Ryan Kalkbrenner on a second-chance lay-in, but Nets were able to hang onto a six-point lead at the start of the fourth.
It was there that the Nets started with Powell, Saraf, Wolf, Williams, and Day’Ron Sharpe, giving every concerned tank commander what they were asking for. But even with LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges opposing them on the floor, the payoff never hit. Brooklyn’s lead never budged and even inflated to eight at one point…
Porter Jr., Claxton, and Dëmin checked in with seven to go. Clowney followed about 60 second later, yet Wolf remained on the floor with the usual starters. But by that point, it was time to let the main five drive the train, and they wasted little time hitting the gas. Porter Jr. splashed his sixth three of the night to make Brooklyn’s lead eight with about five to play. Clowney then pushed it to double digits and Kalkbrenner into the upside down 30 seconds later…
Danny Wolf added a quick encore a few seconds later, plus a foul, giving the Nets their largest lead of the ballgame…
“Felt great,” Wolf said of the dunk. “You know, against Milwaukee, there was another opportunity for that, and I laid the ball up and before the game, I said I was gonna try to catch a body or try to dunk on somebody, and I was kind of saying that as a joke, but kind of just looking at that as an opportunity, and just kind of trying to find the room, and I did it.”
Between the two dunks, Claxton said he liked Wolf’s a bit better, and also confirmed the Michigan product’s pregame comments.
“I’m gonna say Danny, just because it was his first one and the way he did it,” Claxton said. “He did, he manifested it before the game. He told me and Day’Ron, he was like, ‘I’m gonna catch me one too,’ and he went out and did it. So you gotta tip that off to him sure.”
Although surprised by it for candid reasons, Porter Jr. also enjoyed the play…
Post-game, Porter also paid tribute to his head coach.
“I think Jordi is a genius of a coach,” said MPJ. “He’s a genius in terms of the schemes he puts out, especially offensively for me. The way teams are face-guarding me and trying not to let me catch the ball, the different creative ways that Jordi has our team running plays to help me gets touches and looks off is really next level. He’s making is so easy for me to play my game.”
With the Hornets looking as defeated as they had all night following that jam, their fans began leaking out of the lower bowl. When that happened, I spotted a Brooklyn one sitting baseline with “DRAFT PICKS” and the no. 15 stitched on the back of a custom Nets jersey. Initially, I expected he felt frustrated with what just unfolded in front of him. The Nets beat a team only a few games ahead them in the standings and consequentially jeopardized their favorable lottery odds.
However, the jersey didn’t specify what picks he was rooting for. The word “future” wasn’t on there, and Brooklyn’s first batch of selections since they pivoted directly toward a rebuild looked pretty damn good tonight.
On the evening that the Nets got their first home win of the season, let’s just pretend he was rooting for them, not a loss.
Final: Brooklyn Nets 116, Charlotte Hornets 103
It’s been all quite on the Cam Thomas front for a few weeks now, but Jordi Fernández said pregame he’d have an MRI at the end of the week and Brooklyn would provide an update after. Thomas last played on November 5.
Michael Porter Jr. finished with a season-high 35 points tonight against Charlotte on 13-of-24 overall, 7-of-11 from 3-point land and 2-of-4 from the line with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Those are the fifth-most points of his career and his most field goals he’s ever attempted in a game.Brooklyn set a season high with 33 assists tonight against the Hornets. They also tied their second most 3-pointers (17, high is 19 on 10/24/25 vs CLE) and steals (10, season high is 12 on November 18 vs. Boston).Nic Claxton had 13 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block against Charlotte. That gives him the 81st double-double of his career, passing Keith Van Horn (80) for the ninth-most in Nets history. His one block moves him to a tie with Derrick Coleman (559 career blocks) for the fifth-most in franchise history.With his seventh 3-pointer of the night (tied as the second most in his career), Porter became the 28th player in league history to make at least 900 career 3PM with a career 3-point percentage over 40.0%. He is one of nine active with such minimums (Steph Curry, Seth Curry, Klay Thompson, Norman Powell, Doug McDermott, Joe Ingles, Luke Kennard, Grayson Allen).Porter. also surpassed 6,000 career points tonight, becoming one of five active NBA players with at least 6,000 points and a career 3-point percentage over 40.0%, joining Stephen Curry, Doug McDermott, Klay Thompson and Norman Powell.The crowd of 16,443 was, ironically, the smallest home crowd of the season for the first win.
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Chicago Bulls have gone 3-9 after starting the season 6-1 and will face the Brooklyn Nets next on Wednesday evening. The Nets haven’t beat the Bulls since 2023 in a game that featured Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Royce O’Neale. The contest tips off at 8:00 p.m. at the United Center.