Recap: Nets 96, Hornets 104 – Brooklyn Leaves Home with a Whimper
The last home appearance before a 9-game road trip didn’t go according to plan for Brooklyn, as the team struggled to overcome Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets, 104-96.
The Nets head to the west coast to take on three teams in the playoff picture in the Western Conference before heading back east to take on the Raptors and the Sixers to round out the road trip. Interim head coach Tony Brown will get a chance to make his mark on Brooklyn’s dismal 4-19 road record with the trip. The team won’t return to the Barclay’s Center until March 13 against Milwaukee.
Walker led all scorers with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting against a starting backcourt of Donald Sloan and Wayne Ellington. The Hornets offense was humming in the first half, getting out to as much as a 15-point lead.
On Friday, Brooklyn put on their best San Antonio impression, shooting 8-of-17 from 3-point range in front of former Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks who took over as the Nets’ GM on Thursday. The typically poor shooting Brooklyn team regressed to its averages on Sunday against Charlotte, shooting 5-of-22 from beyond the arc.
Four out of five starters scored in double digits for Brooklyn, but Sloan and Ellington combined for 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting, heavily losing the matchup against Walker and his teammates. Markel Brown was the lone bright spot for the Brooklyn’s backcourt, but Shane Larkin and Bojan Bogdanovic only added nine points combined off the bench.
Brook Lopez picked up a season-high six assists, but didn’t have as much impact as in his 33-point performance against the Knicks on Friday. His performances have been so impressive this season that 16 points seems like a drop off from his usual output. The first half malaise from Brooklyn’s offense was in part due to Lopez’s foul situation, as the rotations were forced to shift when the center picked up two early fouls.
He did, however, contribute to the 3-point shooting for Brooklyn with this buzzer-beater to end the third quarter.
The Nets have a day off before taking on the Portland Trailblazers in the first game of their road trip on Feb. 23.
- The Nets are 0-1 in the post-Bargnani era after he was waived on Saturday. Will Brooklyn be able to fill the void left by his buyout? Only time will tell.
- Thaddeus Young filled the stat sheet with five assists and three steals along with 14 points, but the forward also picked up a team-high six turnovers. He did pull this reverse slam off on Frank Kaminsky, so we can’t be that upset by the turnovers.
- Al Jefferson came off the bench and crushed Brooklyn’s second unit, scoring 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
- Despite Lopez’s relatively poor night offensively, the Nets outscored the Hornets 52-32 in the paint.
