3 Takeaways from the Brooklyn Nets improbable win vs. Golden State Warriors

Ryan Ruocco of YES called it the Nets biggest win of the year. No dispute here!

There are wins — and then there’s what we saw from the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.

Jordi Fernández’s boys knew it would be an uphill climb from the jump. Their 18th contest of the season was the latter half of a back-to-back, on the road, and up against the Western Conference’s top seed. These weren’t the Golden State Warriors of yore, but with all that on their side, they might as well have had a prime Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Andre Iguodala out there.

But in their presence, the Nets did not flinch. They did not when the Warriors went up by 18, they did not when their second-leading scorer left the game. Nor when their top scorer followed him out.

They were as stoic as a team could be, or at least one could be with only seven active players down the stretch. Step by step, Brooklyn trotted up the hill, eventually into the lead, then into a win that’ll certainly be talked about for some time. Here’s what we learned.

Injury Bug Still Loves the Nets

During the early 2020s, it often felt like poor injury luck was a metaphysical price the Brooklyn Nets had to pay for star-loaded teams. Their abundance of talent made it seem like they could sacrifice a few games without a Slim Reaper, Uncle Drew, or Beard.

Of course, we eventually came to realize they couldn’t.

But now, we know the injury bug will follow the Nets regardless of their attempts to throw off that scent. After enjoying a historic three-game stretch, it was only natural that Cam Johnson injured his right ankle in the first quarter after stepping on Draymond Green’s foot Monday. He returned to the game, walking around gingerly, but was ruled out at halftime.

Cam Thomas then made it two untimely injuries (as if any ever isn’t.) After a standout game vs the Sacramento Kings, CT lasted until the third quarter before having to check himself out of the game via an intentional foul. Thomas did not return, and although Fernández cited game flow as the reason behind that, Thomas has also already been listed as OUT vs the Suns with hamstring soreness. You do the math there.

While this is undoubtedly just a long way of saying the Nets took a few injury blows last night, it’s also a reminder that good vibes don’t make you invincible. And, to bring it back to Brooklyn’s status as a rebuilding team, it’s a nudge toward the front office to perhaps deal out the veterans before the bug bites again.

No Quit in this Team

With all the reasons listed above, the Nets could have easily lost Monday night by 20 and nobody would have thought the lesser of them for it. Even if they were caught in only a third of those snares, it would have been an understandable loss. As we all know though, the Nets preferred an unprecedented win.

Dennis Schröder deserves our initial round of applause. After going through a bit of a lull where he failed to exceed 15 points for four straight games, he went for 31/7/5 while shooting 10-of-18 from the field and 4-of-8 from deep. He had five made field goals going into the fourth, but then doubled that in the final frame.

Then there’s Jalen Wilson, who finished with 18/2/7 while shooting 5-of-11 from the field and 3-of-8 from deep, his latest hot shooting stretch that’s seen him shoot 16-of-32 on three’s in the last eight games. After logging 33 minutes the night before, he played a team-high 41 vs Golden State. Tired legs and bad conditioning tremble in his presence…

Ziaire Williams was also asked to bring more to the table than he’s accustomed to, but he delivered all the same. Z-Dub played his most minutes ever in a game with 37, spending a great deal of them guarding both Steph Curry and Draymond Green. That’s like running an extra mile on the court and in your head. He finished with 19/4/10 along with two steals.

With 30 and 28, Keon Johnson and Shake Milton also played more minutes Monday night than they have all season. They collectively contributed 21 points, three assists, and five boards. Trendon Watford, playing in only his fifth game this season, and Tyrese Martin, who came up from the G-League, hit big shots down the stretch as well.

This “magnificent seven” refused to go gently into that good night … or early morning for those of us watching from the other coast. Their collective defense, a faction of the game that relies on effort more than anything else, was nothing short of phenomenal. It’s all a testament to their determination and Fernández’s ability to get buy-in from his players — and that’s easier said than done in this league as Nets fans well know.

Just a Year Late

Impressive as last night’s win was, let’s not kid ourselves. It was also a loaded one. Any time the Nets make a run, win a game, or even hit a shot this year, there’ll be baggage that comes with it.

Everyone knows the efforts they made to regain control of their draft picks this past summer, as well as their decision to sell their top asset for additional rebuilding pieces. It was a full-blown investment to set up the future at the expense of the present.

So now, with the league meant to reward its less talented teams with better draft positioning, each time the Nets attack their opponents this year, it’ll be with a double-edged sword. Wins are nice, but each one will hurt their odds to land a top pick.

But that wasn’t always the case. Last year, in fact, the Nets could go for wins without reluctance whatsoever. With their ties to their own draft pick severed, there was nothing to drag them down. Sure, they sunk (and ultimately stunk) nonetheless, but had they won, it wouldn’t have nerfed their future in any way.

That’s not to say last night’s performance was a bad thing. It was far from that, but it was also just a bit ironic. You’ll take a win like that at any point in any season. It’ll be forever associated with Jordi Fernández as the head coach of the Nets and well worth the extra cup of coffee you had to drink this Thursday morning.

But this league sure is funny. Going into last year, the return of “Brooklyn Grit” was highly anticipated in the wake of the star exodus. But it wasn’t until Monday night that a gritty and competitive team with no regard for where their draft pick might land arrived. This is the kind of team the Nets were supposed to be last year. Better late than never?