{"id":623671,"date":"2026-02-25T09:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/623671\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:36:40","slug":"nets-outclassed-by-injury-marred-mavericks-to-keep-pace-in-lottery-standings-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/623671\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets outclassed by injury-marred Mavericks to keep pace in lottery standings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows Brooklyn Nets Ochai Agbaji puts up a shot as Daniel Gafford #21 of the Dallas Mavericks blocks during the second half when the Brooklyn Nets played the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, Image 2 shows Day'Ron Sharpe, who scored seven points off the bench, slams home a dunk during the Nets' loss to the Maverick on Feb. 24, 2026 at Barclays Center, Image 3 shows Marvin Bagley, who scored a team-high 22 points off the bench, goes up for a layup during the Nets' 123-114 loss to the Mavericks on Feb. 24, 2026 at Barclays Center\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1242\" height=\"828\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/a44e5de50c35d21ab02eaa584af9643c.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Nets lose<\/p>\n<p>For the second time in a week, the Nets actually had a clean injury report and their whole team available against the injury-riddled Mavericks.<\/p>\n<p>And it didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n<p>The Nets lost 123-114 before a crowd of 16,510 at Barclays Center, and were largely outclassed from start to finish.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Marvin Bagley, who scored a team-high 22 points off the bench, goes up for a layup during the Nets\u2019 123-114 loss to the Mavericks on Feb. 24, 2026 at Barclays Center. NBAE via Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772012198_964_d8b753b1b4c828f73216b30b6f8d755a.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Marvin Bagley, who scored a team-high 22 points off the bench, goes up for a layup during the Nets\u2019 123-114 loss to the Mavericks on Feb. 24, 2026 at Barclays Center. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was all defense. In the first half, you look at those 76 points and it\u2019s pretty atrocious,\u201d said Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cFrom the ball pressure to everybody behind it, the communication, we were not in place and our efforts were either too late or too much, never on point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Nets allowed 58.5 percent shooting, including 64.4 percent in a first half that saw them outscored 76-64 by a Mavs team missing 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving and Derek Lively II.<\/p>\n<p>The Nets let Marvin Bagley III score 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting.<\/p>\n<p>The Nets (15-42) are third in the lottery standings.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Day\u2019Ron Sharpe, who scored seven points off the bench, slams home a dunk during the Nets\u2019 loss to the Maverick on Feb. 24, 2026 at Barclays Center. Robert Sabo for New York Post\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"750\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772012199_751_2d45580cb5e43c0b5551ac3e9065f039.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Day\u2019Ron Sharpe, who scored seven points off the bench, slams home a dunk during the Nets\u2019 loss to the Maverick on Feb. 24, 2026 at Barclays Center. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n<p>They stayed a game behind second-place Indiana, and moved a game ahead of Washington and New Orleans.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Porter Jr. had a game-high 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting, but he didn\u2019t grab a single rebound as the Nets got battered 44-28 on the glass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could be playing better. I\u2019ve got to get back in rhythm. Before the All-Star break I didn\u2019t play a couple games, and then I honestly didn\u2019t do much over the break, so I\u2019ve got to get back in rhythm and play better,\u201d said Porter, now 10-for-55 from deep in his last seven.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy shot hasn\u2019t felt this off since I can remember. For the last 4 or 5 games. That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re out of rhythm and you don\u2019t play for a while\u2026 I think not playing before the break and not getting in the gym much during it, I\u2019m paying the price for it. But I\u2019ll get back to it sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noah Clowney added 22 points on 4-for-5 shooting from deep. But Egor D\u00ebmin had just three points on 1-for-7 shooting, and Brooklyn\u2019s sievelike defense ensured the loss.<\/p>\n<p>The Nets trailed by as much as 15, after Bagley drilled a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 59-44 lead with 5:44 left in the first half.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Brooklyn Nets Ochai Agbaji puts up a shot as Daniel Gafford of the Dallas Mavericks blocks during the second half on February 24, 2026 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1022\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772012200_833_36af039fd2ecfd2df0681c5615816542.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Brooklyn Nets Ochai Agbaji puts up a shot as Daniel Gafford of the Dallas Mavericks blocks during the second half on February 24, 2026 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Brooklyn still trailed 104-96 with nine minutes to play before Terance Mann (17 points off the bench) sandwiched 3-pointers around Clowney\u2019s block of Bagley. His second long ball pulled Brooklyn within a deuce with 7:42 remaining.<\/p>\n<p>But when Klay Thompson splashed a 30-footer it killed the Nets\u2019 momentum.<\/p>\n<p>And when Brandon Williams hit a tough 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of Nic Claxton (16 points, nine assists, three steals but just four boards) proved a dagger, making it 113-106. The Nets never recovered.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas\u2019 PJ Washington limped off the court with 1:11 to play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nets lose For the second time in a week, the Nets actually had a clean injury report and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7264,7,670,247,3803,225,686,2619,227,113,498,967,1022,166,562,6,671,478,2728,3805,10513,8283,7290,4333],"class_list":{"0":"post-623671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-barclays-center","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-brooklyn-nets","12":"tag-brooklynnets","13":"tag-cooper-flagg","14":"tag-dallas","15":"tag-daniel-gafford","16":"tag-egor-demin","17":"tag-indiana","18":"tag-klay-thompson","19":"tag-kyrie-irving","20":"tag-marvin-bagley","21":"tag-mavericks","22":"tag-michael-porter-jr","23":"tag-nba","24":"tag-nets","25":"tag-new-orleans","26":"tag-nic-claxton","27":"tag-noah-clowney","28":"tag-ochai-agbaji","29":"tag-pj-washington","30":"tag-terance-mann","31":"tag-the-nets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116130598115428860","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623671","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=623671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}