The Nets don\u2019t own the Knicks first-round pick this year \u2014 they do in odd-numbered years \u2014 but that hardly mattered on Wednesday. Brooklyn has shorted New York\u2019s long-term future, but in the short-term, they had a chance to plunge the Knicks further into disarray on Wednesday. Whether you hate the blue-and-orange or don\u2019t pay them any mind, you can\u2019t deny the hilarity of a 12-29 team handing them their 10th loss in 12 games, right in the middle of a championship-or-bust season.<\/p>\n
Anyway, that\u2019s not what happened. The Knicks secured their largest margin of victory in franchise history. Seriously. Here\u2019s a brief list of stuff that happened:<\/p>\n
Landry Shamet shot 6-of-6 from deepThe Nets shot 10-of-27 in the paintMike Brown challenged a call up by 48Mike Brown lost that challengeThe Nets (with 11 points to spare) scored the fewest points by an NBA team in a game this seasonThanks to a 5-0 run to close the game, the Nets avoided the worst margin of defeat in franchise historyWhy are you still reading this?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s allot some brief space for Ziaire Williams, the only Net who, by any measure, played well. He (with some help from Day\u2019Ron Sharpe) desperately tried to raise Brooklyn\u2019s energy level in the first half, deflecting pass after pass and applying ball pressure to Jalen Brunson, who was otherwise seeing cones. Williams scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with just a rebound and a steal, but he was the only one who matched New York\u2019s verve.<\/p>\n
Every other aspect of these 48 minutes was depressing. Michael Porter Jr. continued his cool-streak with a 4-of-14 performance, Egor D\u00ebmin hit two quick threes before air-balling a floater by a foot, scoring zero points the rest of the way. Nolan Traore had a 0\/1\/3 line with three turnovers and Danny Wolf got owned by Deuce McBride at the rim. Terance Mann, Jalen Wilson, and Tyrese Martin \u2014 all of whom were initially out of the rotation \u2014 entered early in the fourth quarter, only for the Nets to go scoreless until the 5:38 mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like the little stuff that we said we wanted to do, we didn\u2019t do,\u201d said Noah Clowney postgame. \u201cLike, we know they\u2019re gonna switch, Josh Hart and OG are gonna switch, things like that. We need to get Brunson in the action because he\u2019s not gonna switch, so there\u2019s our advantage and play off of that. Stuff like that, offensively, we didn\u2019t do it and defensively it was disastrous. We didn\u2019t get back for the first part, they lit our ass up from three, had everything they wanted.<\/p>\n
Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez fell on the sword postgame: \u201cThis was a tough one, but show up the next day and have positive energy and work and get better and go out there and compete. I have to help them better \u2026 players are not responsible for it, so I got to make sure that they understand the values that we have and how we want to play, and we\u2019ll work together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drake Powell disagreed, predictably: \u201cYeah, 100% don\u2019t agree. I think, you know, we\u2019re the ones that are out there playing, making decisions, and I think it\u2019s ultimately on us as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe rooting for losses and encouraging a tank isn\u2019t about pragmatism. Maybe it\u2019s a defense mechanism. The Brooklyn Nets \u2014 scratch that \u2014 Nets fans had a rare opportunity on Wednesday to get a win without worrying about a ping-pong ball, to be a true thorn in the Knicks\u2019 side. With that in mind, the second-worst loss in franchise history tastes even more bitter.<\/p>\n
Oh well. At least they\u2019re tanking. One year and five days ago, the Brooklyn Nets lost by a franchise-record 59 points to the Los Angeles Clippers, and it hardly mattered. They would soon return home, win six out of seven games, and later make five first-round draft picks who will either become good NBA players or not, regardless of Wednesday\u2019s humiliation ritual.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis doesn\u2019t stop the plan that we have. It\u2019s just, obviously, a tough experience to go through.\u201d \u2014 Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n
Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 120, New York Knicks 66<\/p>\n
The 54-point margin of defeat is the second-largest in Nets history, slightly more respectable than the aforementioned 59-point drubbing at the hands of the Clippers last season.In each of the last three seasons, Brooklyn has lost a game by 50+ points, starting with the rout<\/a> that got Jacque Vaughn canned. The Portland Trail Blazers, from 2021-2024, are the only other franchise to accomplish this feat.<\/p>\n Sadly, the loss as bad as it was didn\u2019t change things in the Tankathon rankings. The Nets are still in fifth, three games behind (ahead?) of the Kings in the loss column. Because the Jazz won, Brooklyn put a little distance between themselves and Utah who remains in sixth.<\/p>\n Gotta love how candid Michael Porter Jr. is with the media. Brooklyn\u2019s leading scorer offered up \u2014 unprompted \u2014 that he\u2019s been dealing with an MCL sprain since getting tangled up with Wendell Carter Jr. in Brooklyn\u2019s loss to the Orlando Magic. Now, he\u2019s only missed two games since then, and they were both on the front-end of a back-to-back, so he and Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez don\u2019t believe it\u2019s anything to worry about.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had some discomfort, but he kept playing. He\u2019s played all the way through,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cWe value our players\u2019 health, and if it were something that didn\u2019t allow him to play, we would do whatever it takes to figure that out. But he\u2019s played, so I don\u2019t think I have anything else to say from that.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooklyn has a strong incentive to tank this season, not to mention the trade rumors swirling around Porter Jr. If it was a serious injury, you\u2019d have to believe he wouldn\u2019t be playing through it, but perhaps it\u2019s contributing in some small way to his relative struggles of late. Since the Orlando loss, he\u2019s shooting 42% from the floor and 33% from deep.<\/p>\n
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