NEW YORK — That’s eight straight losses for Brooklyn, with the draft lottery looming in the background.
The Nets fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-102 Sunday afternoon at Barclays Center, dropping to 15-45 and cementing a season-worst stretch. And yet, in the middle of another loss, Brooklyn found something it hasn’t been able to count on often this season: a second unit that not only held up but dragged the game into a fight.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMichael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 26 points and five rebounds. Nolan Traoré added 17 points and two assists as the 19-year-old continues to stake his claim as one of Brooklyn’s lead guards of the future. But the story of the afternoon was the bench, and the way Danny Wolf and Grant Nelson made a game against a depleted Cleveland roster feel winnable deep into the fourth.
Wolf finished with a career-high 23 points, and Nelson added 11 on 4-for-7 shooting in just his second game with the Nets after signing a 10-day contract two days earlier. Together, they combined for 13 rebounds and six assists, a needed infusion of production that kept Brooklyn afloat when it probably had no business hanging around.
Cleveland, playing without Donovan Mitchell for the third straight game, still had plenty. James Harden paced the Cavaliers with 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, the steady hand in every moment the Nets threatened. Cleveland also lived at the line, posting a 25-15 advantage in free throws, even as Brooklyn’s reserves outscored Cleveland’s 47-23.
Nets head coach Jordi Fernández didn’t wait long to scramble his rotation.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWithout Nic Claxton and Egor Dëmin, Brooklyn fell behind 16-5 before Fernández went to the bench, and the first name he called was Nelson. The rookie forward had made his Nets debut Friday in Boston, scoring three points with two rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 10 minutes. His first NBA points came on a dunk over Luka Garza. Sunday, he didn’t wait long to announce himself again.
In his first 10 minutes, Nelson scored eight points on 4-for-5 shooting with a pair of rebounds. He sprinted the floor, attacked the rim, played physical defense and found shooters, including Wolf, who poured in 12 points in his first 10 minutes and went 3 for 7 from deep for the second-most points scored in a half in his career. In just under six first-quarter minutes with Nelson on the floor, the Nets outscored Cleveland 19-13, turning what looked like another early runaway into a manageable 29-24 deficit after one.
Nelson’s impact carried into the second. He knocked down a seven-footer, picked up a block and kept the energy high enough that when Fernández sat him with 7:52 left in the half, Brooklyn was down only two. Minutes later, Porter drilled a step-back jumper that gave the Nets their first lead of the afternoon.
The message from Friday’s embarrassment in Boston had landed. After allowing the Celtics to score 148 points on 67% shooting, Fernández said his team quit. On Sunday, the response was clear. Brooklyn held Cleveland to 46 first-half points and forced 11 turnovers, riding a 28-17 second quarter to a 52-46 halftime lead while limiting the Cavaliers to 22.2% shooting in the period.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat bench unit looked like a problem, too. Nelson, Wolf, Ben Saraf, Ziaire Williams and Josh Minott threw length at Cleveland and made it uncomfortable, a group with an average height of 6-foot-8 and an average wingspan of 6-foot-11. By the break, Brooklyn’s reserves were outscoring Cleveland’s 24-11.
The Nets even led by as many as seven in the third before Cleveland responded with an 11-2 run, taking the lead back on a Sam Merrill 3 with 5:10 left. Fernández went back to his reserves, and they delivered again. Wolf and Nelson kept producing, and Brooklyn closed the quarter with an 11-2 spurt of its own to take a 75-74 lead into the fourth despite 12 third-quarter points from Harden and nine from Jarrett Allen.
Brooklyn didn’t lose grip until late. Merrill spun baseline off Traoré for a 3-point play. Evan Mobley hit two free throws after being fouled by Day’Ron Sharpe. Then a Sharpe turnover opened the door for Merrill to find Allen for a transition lob, pushing Cleveland’s lead to eight with 3:59 left and forcing a Brooklyn timeout.
But the Nets still had one more push. They trimmed it to three with 20 seconds left. After a Cleveland turnover, Brooklyn had a chance to tie. The Cavaliers didn’t let the Nets get a 3 off, choosing instead to foul and play the free throw game. Wolf hit two at the line with 9.2 seconds remaining, but former Net Dennis Schröder answered with two makes on the other end, and that was essentially that.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNelson joined Kenyon Martin and Bernard King as the only players in Nets history to total at least 10 points, at least five rebounds and at least three blocks in each of his first two career games.
The Nets return to action Tuesday against the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center.
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