Brooklyn Nets helpless as Detroit Pistons run away in second half, lose 113-98

Rinse, repeat: An admirable effort from the Brooklyn Nets fell short at Barclays Center, as the home team was outmatched by a better opponent.

Once again, the Brooklyn Nets try.

But when the Detroit Pistons — who at this time last year were wrapping up a losing-streak of epic proportions — hit four straight triples to extend their lead from 43-41 to 55-41 right before the end of the first half, it illustrated the insurmountable mountain Brooklyn is climbing up on nights like Wednesday.

Among rotation regulars, Jordi Fernández was without Ben Simmons, D’Angelo Russell, Cams Johnson and Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Trendon Watford. For the sake of completion, Dariq Whitehead, Bojan Bogdanović, Maxwell Lewis, and De’Anthony Melton were also unavailable.

With eight available players, Brooklyn had the minimum amount of resources at their disposal, avoiding an automatic forfeiture by one healthy body.

They fought, though. Nic Claxton responded to his 2-of-10 shooting night on Monday with a strong first half, ultimately putting up 14/6/3/1/3 on 6-of-11 shooting. Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart threw their weight around with reckless abandon, but the Nets were not getting punked.

Even if Stewart was particularly reckless, elbowing Noah Clowney in the neck to start the proceedings…

The 20-year-old Clowney did not wilt, but responded to the uncommon adversity.

He was the highlight of the night for Brooklyn, an admittedly low bar to clear, but one he soared past anyway with a career-high 27 points, six boards, three assists, and two steals.

Only 11 of his 19 attempts were from deep, a significant step down for a player who has taken about two-thirds of his shots from long-range this season, but Clowney needed it on Wednesday. He drove by some closeouts, ran the floor in transition, and even dove to the basket on occasion as Brooklyns only other available big-man, besides Clax…

Postgame, Clowney gave one of the most insightful answers of his career so far on his offensive game: “What I’d like to call it is, I like to keep teams honest. I don’t like where teams have the ability to sag off me because I’m a weak shooter. I feel like that hurts my team in general. So if I’m able to shoot the ball and I can keep somebody honest, to keep the floor spaced for my guys to get in the lane, then that’s always been the goal. So after ‘Bama — I think I shot 29% [from three] at Alabama or something like that, but I knew I could shoot. I think other people knew I could shoot. Somebody took a chance. Here we are.”

He also explained what a night like Wednesday does for his confidence: “Anytime you have a good performance, it’s good for your confidence on. Obviously, you know what you can do, but when you do it at the highest level, in the real games where it matters, you translate it.”

But the Detroit Pistons have a different type of swag going on. They were looking to win their fifth straight game on Wednesday, something they haven’t done in Cade Cunningham’s entire career.

So when Malik Beasley, Marcus Sasser, and Simone Fontecchio started feeling themselves from deep, it was a double-dagger into Brooklyn’s soul. Not only did it put the game nearly out of reach, but it was a reminder of what the Nets can’t do with their available roster.

They can’t generate open looks, or fall into a dozen points in a minute, or get hot enough to bury a team. Getting to 100 points with a starting back-court of Tyrese Martin and Keon Johnson is enough of a challenge, much less running down a double-digit deficit.

What they can do is play respectable ball, which they did for much of the third quarter, similar to Monday night. Midway through the frame, they halved Detroit’s lead to six, thanks to another Clowney layup. But the Pistons responded with a haymaker, hitting threes and forces turnovers to build a 21-point lead by the time the fourth quarter tipped off.

JB Bickerstaff’s team had a plan and a roster that’s been together all season. They have well-earned confidence, and far more offensive talent. Such is life. Despite the teams committing an identical number of turnovers (15), Detroit outscored Brooklyn by a whopping 38-13 margin on the break.

“We had turnovers in transition and it turn into layups the other way,” said Brooklyn’s head coach. “We didn’t play off two feet. What I mean by that is, our shots at the rim got blocked, and those are like live turnovers, it just goes the other way … the one teaching point is, you know, put the ball on the rim as high as you can, and maybe we rebound it, or we give ourselves a chance to get back.”

Brooklyn did make some rough decisions in the paint, but the better team just dominated in the middle sections of the game. Nets fans looking for silver linings found them in shining moments from Clowney, Claxton, and once again, Tosan Evbuomwan…

Jordi Fernández found the silver lining in the overall fight his team showed.

While he called the game a “learning process” and wasn’t shy in highlighting areas of improvement, the rookie head coach also called the loss a “good experience, again. And then the most important thing for me is fighting until the end, winning that fourth quarter. And that’s how we can watch it, learn it, and move on.”

Not that Brooklyn has many other options at the moment.

Final Score: Detroit Pistons 113, Brooklyn Nets 98

Milestone Watch

• Noah Clowney’s 29 points were a season- and career-high, but he made another bit of history as well, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to record 25+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ 3-pointers made in a game.
• Tyrese Martin put up 12/10/4, and those career-high ten boards were good for the first double-double of his career. Four assists also tied a career-high for the ex-UConn Husky.
• Nic Claxton blocked three shots tonight, which moved him past Chris Morris for sixth place in Nets NBA history. Next up: Derrick Coleman (559).

Injury Report

Ben Simmons was initially a question mark for this game, later downgraded to unavailable. It was his fourth straight absence, though the first of that streak was due to a back-to-back.

The last three have been related to calf-soreness, which has now transitioned to dreaded “back injury management.” Everything in the body is connected to the back, after all.

Said Fernández pregame: “Right now, this discomfort, whatever he’s got going on with a calf, that is related to managing his back, we just got to be cautious and keep working.”

Poor Day’Ron Sharpe had a season-best game on Monday, then caught an illness to become a late-scratch against Detroit. Brooklyn was one of the last teams in the NBA to avoid an illness-related absence this season, but the virus seemingly going around the league finally caught up to them on Wednesday.

There’s not many other updates on the rest of the injured Nets, though Jordi Fernández said that while the Nets “believe” Cam Johnson will play out West, they won’t rush anything.

Dariq Whitehead, though has a curious case of a concussion. After getting banged up in Long Island’s most recent game, it appeared as if he suffered a lower-leg injury, but no! It was the dreaded c-word…

To be clear, Whitehead is simply in concussion protocol at the moment, though it seems possible that he played much of a G League contest after suffering from a concussion, worrying for any player, much less one who has mentally and physically battled a pile-up of injuries in his young career.

At any rate, there is no update on his long-term status just yet, or whether he has suffered a concussion.

Next Up

Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post

So it begins. Brooklyn flies westward for the first of six consecutive games on the road, starting with a Friday night date with the Denver Nuggets. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET.

• Boxscore: Detroit Pistons 113, Brooklyn Nets 98 – NBA
• Jalen Wilson discusses his growth in year two (Video) – Chris Shearn – YES Network
• Malik Beasley scores 23 and Pistons win 5th straight, 113-98 over Nets – Pat Pickens – AP
• Pistons go over .500 mark by beating Nets – Larry Fleisher – Reuters
• Depleted Nets turn in weary performance to drop third straight with loss to Pistons – Brian Lewis – New York Post
• Noah Clowney’s career night not enough as Nets lose 3rd straight to surging Pistons – C.J. Holmes – New York Daily News