Brooklyn Nets overpower inept Charlotte Hornets squad, win 97-89

The eight-point margin really oversells the tension of this one, which marks Brooklyn’s fifth win in six games.

“We know coming in that they really ain’t got no paint presence. So we’re just trying to attack the basket.”

That was a characteristically blunt Day’Ron Sharpe, speaking with YES Network’s Meghan Triplett at halftime of Brooklyn Nets vs. Charlotte Hornets on Monday night.

Sharpe may have a been a bit too dismissive of third-year center Moussa Diabaté, who the Hornets just rewarded with a three-year contract. Diabaté, a skinny but very lively 6’10”, muscled his way to 21 and 10 with two blocks on the night, though his production dipped after lob-thrower extraordinaire LaMelo Ball exited with an ankle tweak.

But while Diabaté impressed, Sharpe’s larger point was correct. Diabaté wasn’t enough of a force to consistently dominate the paint — over the first three quarters, Brooklyn shot 60% inside the arc. (Plus, his largest teammate was 39-year-old Taj Gibson. Respectfully.)

So Sharpe dominated his minutes. When talking to Triplett, he had eight points on 4-of-4 shooting, including a couple put-backs. On the other end, he had affected multiple shots, including this fantastic block…

Sharpe would finish with 14/9/2/0/1, and was merely half of a fantastic center tandem.

Nic Claxton posted 16/4/1/1/2, and the malaise — or injury management, take you choice — that he started the season now seems like a distant memory. His play still isn’t quite where it was two seasons ago, but whether against formidable competition like the Houston Rockets or the very, very bad (and injured) Hornets, Clax is bringing the energy and focus. That’s a start.

Charlotte switched 1-through-5 frequently on Monday, and both Claxton and Sharpe did work inside. They sealed, called for the ball, and if they didn’t get it, they hit the glass hard, with Brooklyns winning the second-chance points battle 24-13. But if the bigs did get the ball, they made the right plays…

“They play on both ends, both of them,” said Jordi Fernández. “But start with their communication, their presence, their physicality, and they both have done a great job. I’m very happy to see that they’re owning that part. And you know, it’s on them to get everybody going and start our defense … Both of them have been really, really good.”

With the paint taken care of, Charlotte had no chance, particularly after LaMelo Ball’s injury.

Just as Clax’s season has taken a turn in the last few weeks, so has Brooklyn’s as a team. Over their last six games, they are 5-1, and any tanking dreams of catching the true dregs of the league, like Charlotte, have died. As of midnight, they are twice as close to the play-in (three games) as they are to any of the top three spots in lottery odds (six games.)

In that same stretch, Brooklyn has the best defense in the league, no qualifier necessary. The lowest defensive rating, whether filtering out garbage time or not. They’re blocking the second-most shots in the league, allowing the lowest field-goal percentage, the whole shebang.

“I feel like it always starts with me and Nic,” said Sharpe postgame. “So when they set a ball-screen, us jabbing, helping our teammates getting back in front so they can funnel the guys to us. I’d say my guards, our guards doing a great job playing on-ball defense, individual defense, and, you know, slowing them up so we can come over and block it. It’s just, I’d say we’ve done a great job at it.”

They’re also illustrating the difference between a bad team and a terrible team.

The Charlotte Hornets, now those guys are terrible…

After Ball went down, they did not feature a player nearly as good as Brooklyn’s center, nor Cam Johnson, Trendon Watford, D’Angelo Russell, or Ziaire Williams, all of whom scored in double-digits.

Brooklyn shot just 23.8% from deep, but at least flashed competent offense and ball-movement, including on these two of Cam Johnson’s 14 points…

(They were also weighed down by a 12-point fourth quarter in which the game had already been decided.)

The Hornets, meanwhile, shot an even worse 19.4% from three with none of the highlight plays. The Nets are not just playing some fantastic defense under Jordi Fernández, but they are stacked with plenty of real NBA players.

The Hornets are not, and window-dressed a 22-point deficit early in the fourth quarter with a few minutes of garbage time hustle. Pardon the deceivingly close score.

Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 97, Charlotte Hornets 8

Trendon Watford continues to hoop

The Brooklyn Nets are now 10-7 when Trendon Watford plays, 10-8 if you include a December game against the Memphis Grizzlies where he appeared for single inbounds play.

While some of that is good luck, there’s no doubt Watford has boosted the team in four appearances since returning from a hamstring injury for the second time.

Following his 12-point performance in a victory against the Miami Heat, Watford put up 13/2/4 with zero turnovers on Monday, including shooting 3-of-5 from deep. Brooklyn won his minutes by a whopping 26 points, which felt appropriate…

For the time being, the 6’8” 24-year-old has seized the backup point guard position.

Says Fernández: “He was at the primary-ball-handler-slash-point-guard — however you want to call it — and he did a great job. Is he going to do it the whole time? I don’t know. But you know, the good thing is, the more things you can do, the more opportunities that you will have to play minutes.”

Watford played some point guard last season, but his minutes were often cut short by two issues: turnovers and a lack of 3-point shooting. Can’t have both those problems from a lead ball-handler.

Which makes his performance on Monday so encouraging, not only hitting three triples but the four assists to zero turnovers.

“[I’m] just growing game by game,” said Watford postgame. “Get more comfortable having the ball in my hands, get more comfortable watching film. I just think it was a part of growth from year three to year four … just watching the film and getting better and seeing passes I should make and times I should be aggressive.”

Take that, Las Vegas

The Brooklyn Nets, improbably, are just three games back of a Play-In Tournament spot. But that’s not what the team is focus on, with Fernández and his players all emphasizing a game-by-game mindset.

But there is one number Brooklyn is aware of: 18.5.

That was the betting line for their season-long win total, as set by the oddsmakers during the preseason. It was later bet up to 19.5 by some (evidently) savvy gamblers. This was a number Jordi Fernández informed the team of in preseason, and one the team revisited after notching their 19th win of the season on Monday.

Said Sharpe: “We all seen they had us projected to win 19 games. We all felt the same way that Jordi felt, you know? Ourselves as a collective, we came together like, ‘we all feel that way.’ But I mean, we right at 19, so we still got to get past it.”

“We remember when that list came out. We definitely keep that in the back of our heads. They doubted us. Now, with one more game left before the break, we already passed what they had us at. So, shout out to the experts,” quipped Watford.

Tyrese Martin, up against it

Tyrese Martin has been active for 49 of Brooklyn’s 53 games this season, though he didn’t touch the floor in 14 of those games. Why does that matter? Well, his limit as a two-way player for active games in a season is 50. (Not games played, but games where Martin dressed.)

The Nets could simply stick him in the G League for the remainder of the season, but with Ben Simmons no longer on the roster, they now have an open spot for convert the 25-year-old guard to a standard contract.

League sources tell NetsDaily that Brooklyn’s front office is calmly exploring all possible options. Lucky for Sean Marks & co., they’ll have the week-long All-Star break to figure out Martin’s situation.

Milestone Watch

• The three triples Watford hit marks a new career-high. So does his single-game plus-minus of +26.
• This is the first time Brooklyn has held consecutive opponents under 90 points in more than a decade (December 2014).

Injury report

Still no details on when Maxwell Lewis will be back. The 6’7” 22-year-old wing fractured his left tibia in his first game with the Nets back in early January just after he was traded with D’Angelo Russell and three seconds for Dorian Finney-Smith. He was to be re-evaluated in a month. Well, on Sunday, he was spotted at HSS Training Center putting up some shots.

It would appear that he and Cam Thomas are closest. Expect more news on them after the All-Star Break which begins Wednesday night.

Next Up

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

A rematch of the 2023 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal! Who could forget?!

In their final game before All-Star Weekend, the Brooklyn Nets play their fifth straight contest at home, this time against the Philadelphia 76ers. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.

• Boxscore: Brooklyn Nets 97, Charlotte Hornets 89 – NBA
• Game Highlights: Brooklyn Nets 97, Charlotte Hornets 89 (Video) – NBA
• Cam Johnson on participating in Three-Point Contest (Video) – YES Network
• Trendon Watford on Nets’ win over Charlotte (Video) – Meghan Triplett – YES Network
• Jordi Fernández on Nets’ 97-89 win over Hornets (Video) – YES Network
• Trendon Watford on his big performance in win (Video) – YES Network
• Jordi Fernández, Trendon Watford, and Day’Ron Sharpe Postgame Press Conferences vs Charlotte (Video) – Brooklyn Nets
• Nets pull away from Hornets after LaMelo Ball leaves with ankle injury, win 97-89 – Brian Mahoney – AP
• Nets hold off injury-plagued Hornets – Reuters
• Nets stay hot as stout defense keeps good vibes going — even if win hurts lottery odds – Brian Lewis – New York Post