{"id":627487,"date":"2026-02-27T04:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/627487\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T04:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:02:30","slug":"brooklyn-nets-outclassed-by-san-antonio-spurs-lose-126-110","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/627487\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Nets outclassed by San Antonio Spurs, lose 126-110"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Wembanyama steps out of the visitors\u2019 locker room, hunches through the tunnel, and Barclays Center greets him with a shriek. A mass circles the east end of the court as the Alien starts to warm up. Rarely is a nickname \u2014 bland it may be \u2014 this fitting. Wemby clutches a basketball, balancing on one leg while the physiotherapist pokes and prods him; they then begin a series of strange-looking stretches targeting muscles you haven\u2019t heard of. Hushed fascination overtakes the crowd. It really does feel like a ticketed exhibition at Area 51; I snap the best photo I can get, proof that my work is occasionally as cool as my friends think it is.<\/p>\n

On the west end of the court, Josh Minott and Ochai Agbaji warm up in front of empty seats. In pregame, Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez gives his longest answer of the season, promising a bright future for the Brooklyn Nets as directly as he can: \u201cWe really like where we are. You know, we have a process and a plan in place \u2026 and everybody should feel the excitement of the next step. It\u2019s a big 25 games for everybody, and a big, big, big summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The media room is packed with national reporters, braving the slush to observe the Alien up close. Some of them ask me how I feel about Brooklyn\u2019s rookie class. But before getting nerdy, I express my gratitude: The rookies have made this season interesting at the very least, even exciting at times.<\/p>\n

Danny Wolf made a couple threes on Thursday night, finishing with 14\/5\/2, but Nolan Traore was once again the most impressive of the pack. He put up 13\/2\/3, only turned it over once, and consistently put pressure on the paint\u2026<\/p>\n

Brooklyn did not wilt against Wemby. They scored 54 points in the paint, their highest total since a February 9 victory over the Chicago Bulls. San Antonio threatened to break the game open in the first quarter, but Day\u2019Ron Sharpe, who reached a double-double, came off the bench and scored a quick seven points. Nic Claxton subbed back in and followed his lead, reaching double-figures before the half.<\/p>\n

Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez knew they would drown if not for the adjustment: \u201cWe go out there and shoot three threes and seven mid-range shots in the first quarter. So that\u2019s just lack of intention and concentration \u2026 but then after that, you know, the second quarter we did better and coming out in the third, we did good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Porter Jr. single-handedly kept Brooklyn within striking distance in that third quarter, maneuvering around Wemby for three quick layups\u2026<\/p>\n

Then, at long last, he found the 3-point stroke that\u2019s been AWOL in February, hitting three straight. Porter Jr. scored 17 of his 25 points in the period, though he shot just 9-of-22 on the evening. Still, an improvement.<\/p>\n

Alas, the Spurs put their foot down after Porter Jr.\u2019s little outburst. The Nets were trailing by six. Blink. The Nets were trailing by 26. Brooklyn native Julian Champagnie led the way with 26 points, but it was a total team effort, as the West\u2019s #2 seed showed no signs of fatigue having flown in from Toronto the night before.<\/p>\n

Unperturbed by every run the Nets made, San Antonio whipped the ball around the court, posting an incredible 36:9 turnover:assist ratio and shooting 39.5% from three. It was the exact basketball Brooklyn hopes to play, right down to the franchise-changing superstar in the middle of it, though Wemby scored just 12 points himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we fought in that third quarter, cut it under ten, made it a game,\u201d said Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cWe did a lot of things better, you know, fighting for long, longer rebounds, took the challenge, but then couldn\u2019t close it. So, you have to play very well against a team like this, one of the best teams in the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egor D\u00ebmin, perhaps unsurprisingly, was not one of the Nets who barreled toward the rim on Thursday. He shot just 2-of-3 from the floor, and was pulled early in the first quarter after being \u201cinvolved in a few defensive mistakes,\u201d per Fern\u00e1ndez. But it wasn\u2019t all bad for the young Russian, just a little odd: He did post a career-high nine assists with just one turnover.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn\u2019s head coach had a succinct message postgame: \u201cBe more aggressive, and find those shots early, pushing. Obviously the unselfishness. I really like it \u2026 So, gotta watch the film again. In a perfect world, probably, I need him to take more than two threes and more than three shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez knows that we\u2019re waiting for the summer. As opponents keep rolling through Barclays Center with ease, he might be counting down the days too. But until then, the Nets are not quite a basketball team trying to win games, but a collection of kids trying to \u2014 hold on, Spurs Head Coach Mitch Johnson came up with the perfect metaphor in his pregame.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to ask a 19-year-old to help another 19-year-old. It\u2019s like asking a bunch of kids learning how to swim to make sure the other one doesn\u2019t drown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final Score: San Antonio Spurs 126, Brooklyn Nets 110<\/p>\n

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

Luiza Moraes\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a quick turnaround, as the Brooklyn Nets ship up to Boston for the second night of a back-to-back. Tip-off against the Celtics is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama steps out of the visitors\u2019 locker room, hunches through the tunnel, and Barclays Center greets him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,6,51809,969,474,4075,4074,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-627487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nets-scores","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","13":"tag-sanantonio","14":"tag-sanantoniospurs","15":"tag-spurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116140608691371564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627487","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=627487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}