{"id":615120,"date":"2026-02-21T04:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T04:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615120\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T04:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T04:34:29","slug":"sloppy-nets-get-rough-reminder-from-thunder-in-blowout-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615120\/","title":{"rendered":"Sloppy Nets get rough reminder from Thunder in blowout loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nets looked across the court at Oklahoma City, the team they\u2019re trying to emulate in their rebuild.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brooklyn, offensively incompetent in a 105-86 loss to the Thunder on Friday before 18,203 at Paycom Center, got a harsh reminder of just how far away they are.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smothered by the reigning NBA champions, the Nets shot just 36.7 percent overall, and 7-of-41 from 3-point range. They showed more fight than they had the night before in Cleveland. They didn\u2019t roll over; they just couldn\u2019t buy a jumper, or hold on to the ball. <\/p>\n

They had 21 turnovers, including a dozen in a 21-3 Thunder run.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brooklyn (15-40) moved up the lottery standings, now alone in fourth. The Nets pulled a game ahead of the fifth-place Wizards, who won two in a row against the similarly tanking Pacers. <\/p>\n

\"OklahomaOklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) passes as Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) defends during the first half at Paycom Center on Feb. 20, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

They\u2019re now just a game out of second place, a tie between Indiana and New Orleans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Thunder were without reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain), as well as Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. That didn\u2019t stop them from improving to a league-best 43-14, not looking past the Nets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Porter Jr. had a game-high 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Nets But playing on the tail end of a back-to-back \u2014 something he hadn\u2019t done in their last six such occasions \u2014 he shot just 1-of-9 from 3-point range.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lottery pick Egor D\u00ebmin \u2014 the Nets\u2019 first Rising Stars participant since 2019 \u2014 looked like he\u2019s hitting a rookie wall. He had just three points, shooting 1-of-10 from the floor and 1-of-8 from deep. Fellow teen rookie Nolan Traore scored 17 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brooklyn hired former Oklahoma City director of amateur scouting Acie Law to be director of player personnel, and will look to pattern their rebuild after the Thunder. But Friday showed how far they have to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Nets had an early 23-17 lead after newcomer Ochai Agbaji\u2019s 3-pointer with 2:26 left in the first quarter when their offense went ice-cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"EgorEgor Demin of the Brooklyn Nets looks to pass the ball during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 20, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Brooklyn conceded an extended 21-3 run over the last 9\u00bd minutes. They missed 11 straight shots \u2014 0-for-8 from deep \u2014 and gave away 12 turnovers to fall behind 38-26 on a Chet Holmgren free throw.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the time Porter found center Day\u2019Ron Sharpe (12 points, eight rebounds, two steals in place of injured Nic Claxton) inside to staunch the bleeding with 3:30 left in the half, the game was over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The deficit swelled to 55-35 early in the third.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike the night before against the Cavs, this time at least the Nets tried to show some fight. Down 71-54, they ripped off a 9-0 blitz in just 1:25.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Porter had a couple of decent finds, Jalen Wilson for a 3-pointer and then Danny Wolf for a layup that got them within 71-63. But that\u2019s as close as it got.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jared McCain had 21 for the shorthanded champs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nets looked across the court at Oklahoma City, the team they\u2019re trying to emulate in their rebuild.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,562,6,671,179,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-615120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-michael-porter-jr","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nets","15":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116106761508055903","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615120","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=615120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}