The Brooklyn Nets took on the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, the second game of a six-game homestand, the last one of the 2025-26 season.
The Hornets had won 22 of 30 games entering Tuesday, and they had a blast making it 23 of 31. LaMelo Ball played to an adoring crowd by throwing no-look passes and shooting increasingly harebrained 3-pointers with even more nonchalance than he usually does. Brandon Miller hit a three off a pass from Ball to make it 16-4 Hornets just five minutes into the game, and the two laughed the whole way back down the court.
The travel is relentless, only compounding the physical toll of an 82-game season. There are unsettling locker-room dynamics, contract disputes, and the perennial threat of a trade to an undesirable place, not to mention the landfill of public opinion, often amounting to verbal abuse, that players have to deal with. In the player-podcast era, fans are hyper-aware of the cons of an NBA career, blessed the job may be.
But on Tuesday night, it was heaven for the Hornets. They kicked ass, they had fun, and one of the most remarkable seasons in franchise history kept rolling right along. It inspires tremendous envy.
The Nets never had a shot in this one. They shot 20% from three and could not keep the visitors off the glass, surrendering a whopping 29 second-chance points, scoring only nine themselves. Nobody played extremely well, though the bench unit kept it reasonably close in the second quarter — a familiar story — the only frame Brooklyn won.
Said Fernández: “They were focused on playing the right way, also understanding how they’re defending certain actions, what the impact of the game was.”
Fernández is likely referencing the team’s defense on Rookie of the Year Kon Knueppel, who scored just eight points on 4-of-12 shooting. Knueppel was due for an off night eventually, but his frequent screening/slipping for Ball and others went nowhere on Tuesday, with the Nets at the very least locked in on switching those actions. Knueppel over the past three games is 4-of-19 from deep.
As for the reserves, Josh Minott scored 14 to lead all Nets, and Chaney Johnson added 11 points. They combined to shoot 2-of-10 from deep, but once again, their athleticism stood out compared to most of their teammates…
We’re really grasping at straws here, of course, as the clock mercifully ticks down on Brooklyn’s season. Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf combined for seven assists and seven turnovers on Tuesday night, though Drake Powell did score ten points on nine shots, marking his second consecutive game in double-digits. He’s now done that three times this season. Progress! Maybe?
It marked Brooklyn’s 8th loss by at least 30 points this season. The previous record for a Nets season was five such losses, which they did in both 1988 and 1989. Now that the two-season tank is nearly complete, let’s hope it’s another 37 years before they top that record. They might not set the world on fire next season, but it should be a little more watchable.
“I mean, we’re young, man. We got 19 year olds starting and playing against ten-year vets, so it’s not going to be easy. But, you know, it’s all part of the process, and hopefully a year from now, two years from now, we can look back and laugh these hard days and losing streaks, and just thank thank God for that adversity. Because at the end of the day, it’s gonna you stronger.” — Ziaire Williams
For now, a tanking we will go. With no other of the bottom five teams playing, the loss moved the Nets up to within a half game of the Wizards and Pacers who lead the tanking five. It’s the closest Brooklyn has been to the top spot all season. So there’s that.
Final Score: Charlotte Hornets 117, Brooklyn Nets 86
Day’Ron joins YES Network booth
In the third quarter, Day’Ron Sharpe joined Chris Carrino and Sarah Kustok in the YES Network booth, dropping a curse word in the very first sentence! Gotta love Day’Ron, man.
He talked through his offensive rebounding philosophy, his relationship with Nic Claxton, and rehabbing his torn thumb ligament: “I feel pretty good man, pretty good. Rehab is going smooth, can’t wait to get back on the court full-time.”
Those with a Gotham Sports subscription can find the whole segment here.
Terance Mann missed the game with left achilles soreness, a designation that kept him out of a March 16 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, but no other games. Michael Porter Jr. and his strained left hamstring have not yet been re-evaluated, though the Nets are expected to provide an update on him in the next week or so.
Danny Wolf missed his fifth straight game after spraining his ankle in a road loss to the Sacramento Kings. Pregame, Jordi Fernández said the 21-year-old rookie is still in a walking boot, and the team does not yet have an update on his return timeline.
Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images
The Nets host the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for the usual 7:30 p.m. ET.