{"id":528152,"date":"2026-01-10T23:52:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T23:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/528152\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T23:52:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T23:52:45","slug":"brooklyn-nets-throttled-by-los-angeles-clippers-lose-121-105","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/528152\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Nets throttled by Los Angeles Clippers, lose 121-105"},"content":{"rendered":"

Midway through the second quarter of the Brooklyn Nets\u2019 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\u2026<\/p>\n

Brooklyn is the NBA\u2019s youngest team, Los Angeles the NBA\u2019s oldest. Every once in a while, the Clippers\u2019 interest level would wane, and they\u2019d look their age. They opened the second half turning the ball over with the alertness of a texting driver. Brooklyn grabbed 19 offensive rebounds on the night, the Clippers just six. The other hustle stats were about even: deflections, steals, blocks, fast-break points.<\/p>\n

So Lopez did sip from the fountain of youth, while James Harden (31\/4\/6) and Kawhi Leonard (26\/5\/5) were drunk off it, but the Clippers didn\u2019t run the Nets out of the gym. They just didn\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n

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 Fern\u00e1ndez sent plenty of early double-teams and outright traps at them; his players were not up to the challenge\u2026<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

When asked if the team\u2019s defensive effort was up to his standards, Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said: \u201cAt times it was ,at times it wasn\u2019t. Especially in the first half, getting out of the of the doubles, we were very slow. And when you\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about it,\u201d said Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cThis is a game that some of those shots go in, and we are \u2014 I think we fought all the way through \u2014 but we could have been closer, and that\u2019s sometimes part of the game, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

He also added that it\u2019ll be another \u201cfive years\u201d before MPJ has another 0-of-9 night from three.<\/p>\n

The only starter who scored halfway effectively was the near-hero of Wednesday\u2019s loss, Egor D\u00ebmin. Continuing his Klay Thompson impression, he led the Nets in scoring with 19\/3\/3 on 5-of-10 from three\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u2019s tough to blame them (and the scoreless Drake Powell) for not producing more as a part of a Cam Thomas-led second unit, though.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez didn\u2019t 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\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u2019t untenable, exactly; it\u2019s just not beneficial for anybody involved.<\/p>\n

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 D\u00ebmin dunk attempt that he was fouled on. But a thrilling ending for the second game in a row?<\/p>\n

Yeah, that wasn\u2019t in the cards.<\/p>\n

Final Score: Los Angeles Clippers 121, Brooklyn Nets 105<\/p>\n

Egor D\u00ebmin became the first rookie in Nets history to make five 3-pointers in back-to-back games, and the 28th rookie in NBA history to do so.D\u00ebmin now has 19 games this season with multiple 3-pointers. The all-time Nets rookie leaders are Kerry Kittles (50) and Bojan Bogdanovi\u0107 (24).<\/p>\n

Demin now has more 3-pointers (76) and a higher percentage (39.0%) than Cooper Flagg, V.J. Edgecombe, Dylan Harper, Jeremiah Fears, Derik Queen and Cedric Coward. Tre Johnson is shooting a slightly higher percentage at 39.7% but 18 fewer made threes. Demin is second to Kon Knueppel in made threes, 127-76, but in January, he and Knueppel both have 15 threes but the Nets guard is shooting 55.6% while the Hornets guard is hitting 39.5%.<\/p>\n

Okay, this one isn\u2019t really a milestone, but D\u00ebmin tried to put someone on a true poster for the first time in the NBA. It was the Nets all-time leading scorer, the seven-footer Brook Lopez\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was scary. He\u2019s a really big man,\u201d laughed D\u00ebmin. \u201cI mean, there was supposed to be a time when I\u2019m gonna start doing that, right? So it\u2019s better to start earlier than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite easy to root for the kid.<\/p>\n

MPJ All-Star push heats up<\/p>\n

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\u2026<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Thus, MPJ\u2019s fate will come down to the head coaches, but if fan voting is any indication, he\u2019s on the right side of the bubble. Said Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez pregame: \u201cI mean, he\u2019s an All-Star. He\u2019s played like an All-Star. You just got to watch him play and how much better he\u2019s gotten. He\u2019s been in a different role, he\u2019s proven he can do it. And it\u2019s not just the shot-making, which I think like, if you\u2019re an NBA fan, you just watch Michael take and make shots, right? It\u2019s how he\u2019s been working off the ball to get those shots, also rebounding, career-high rebounding and free-throw attempts and assists.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cWe\u2019ve competed for a lot of games, he\u2019s a big reason why we\u2019re there. And he\u2019s just doing his job, and it\u2019s not about him, it\u2019s about the group. So if you think about his impact on competitiveness, that\u2019s what All-Stars do, and that\u2019s why Mike should be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zach Lowe and Rob Mahoney, making their All-Star predictions on Thursday\u2019s episode of Lowe\u2019s podcast<\/a>, agreed with Fern\u00e1ndez, each picking MPJ. Lowe even wondered aloud if he was an \u201cundisputed selection.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s selection in 2022, and MPJ indeed seems worthy of ending the drought.<\/p>\n

Entering Friday\u2019s game:<\/p>\n

MPJ \u2014 appearing in 28 of 34 games \u2014 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, Don\u010di\u0107, Joki\u0107)Among the 20 players averaging 25 PPG, Porter Jr. had the 8th-highest TS%.<\/p>\n

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.\u2018s struggles on Friday, they have a point.<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/a><\/p>\n

Justin Ford\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Nets hit the road for three games down South. They\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Midway through the second quarter of the Brooklyn Nets\u2019 Friday night duel with the Los Angeles Clippers, Brook…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,51809],"class_list":{"0":"post-528152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-clippers","12":"tag-laclippers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesclippers","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nets-scores"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115873496868346714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}