{"id":615482,"date":"2026-02-21T09:18:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T09:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615482\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T09:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T09:18:22","slug":"sloppy-nets-get-served-brutal-reminder-from-thunder-in-blowout-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615482\/","title":{"rendered":"Sloppy Nets get served brutal reminder from Thunder in blowout loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Oklahoma 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.<\/p>\n

The Nets looked across the court at Oklahoma City, the team they\u2019re trying to emulate in their rebuild. They got a harsh reminder of just how far away they are.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn suffered an offensively-challenged 105-86 loss to the Thunder on Friday night before a crowd of 18,203 at Paycom Center.<\/p>\n

Smothered by the reigning champions, the Nets shot 36.7 percent overall and 7-of-41 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Caruso (9) passes as Michael Porter Jr. (17) defends during the first half of the Nets\u2019 105-86 loss to the Thunder at Paycom Center on Feb. 20, 2026 in Oklahoma City. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

That horrid 17.1 percent clip from behind the arc was their worst of the season, and left them no chance to win.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn (15-40) conceded an extended 21-3 run that spanned from the end of the first quarter deep into the second.<\/p>\n

They shot 0-for-11 \u2014 including 0-for-8 from deep \u2014 and gave away a dozen turnovers to flip a six-point lead into a 10-point hole.<\/p>\n

That deficit moved to as many as 20. Though the Nets fought back \u2014 unlike when they rolled over a night earlier in Cleveland \u2014 their sorry shooting short-circuited any comeback bid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe struggled. Obviously they\u2019re the No. 1 defense for a reason. And we struggled in that second quarter, but also in the fourth. But we saw good things, and that\u2019s the trend that I wanted the group to continue with,\u201d Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n

\"Egor<\/p>\n

Egor D\u00ebmin looks to pass the ball during the Nets\u2019 loss to the Thunder on Feb. 20, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it was handling their pressure. I also thought that getting the stops, when you get to your spots in transition, it\u2019s a little easier to find those shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn, which moved up to fourth in the lottery standings are now just a game out of second place, a tie between Indiana and New Orleans.<\/p>\n

The Thunder (43-14) were without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain), Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. But the Nets couldn\u2019t take advantage.<\/p>\n

Michael Porter Jr. had 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists. But playing on the tail end of a back-to-back, he was just 1-of-9 from deep. Egor D\u00ebmin was 1-of-8 from behind the arc and finished with just three points. Nolan Traore scored 17.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn had an early 23-17 lead, but coughed up a 21-3 run.<\/p>\n

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

Down 71-54, the Nets ripped off a 9-0 blitz in just 1:25. But that\u2019s as close as it got.<\/p>\n

Jared McCain had 21 for OKC.<\/p>\n

The Nets hired ex-OKC director of amateur scouting Acie Law to be Director of Player Personnel in the offseason and will look to emulate the Thunder. But Friday showed how far they have to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) passes as Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) defends during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[5577,328,7,247,305,227,113,364,1255,562,6,478,310,475,179,3966,3965,4319,209,4333,4683,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-615482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-ajay-mitchell","9":"tag-alex-caruso","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-brooklyn-nets","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-egor-demin","14":"tag-indiana","15":"tag-jalen-williams","16":"tag-jared-mccain","17":"tag-michael-porter-jr","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-new-orleans","20":"tag-oklahoma","21":"tag-oklahoma-city","22":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-oklahomacity","24":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","25":"tag-paycom-center","26":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","27":"tag-the-nets","28":"tag-the-thunder","29":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116107878480663194","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615482","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=615482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}