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Brooklyn Nets run dry against Sacramento Kings, lose 110-96

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Sacramento Kings v Brooklyn Nets
Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

It’s a talent thing.

Late in the third quarter of the Brooklyn Nets’ Monday night game against the Sacramento Kings, Jalen Wilson had a chance to make history. He has never dunked the basketball in an NBA game.

At 6’6” and he’s up to 1,900 minutes in the NBA, this one basic stat exemplifies the athletic deficiencies that seem to limit his ceiling. In his senior season at Kansas University, during which he scored 723 points, he also did not record a dunk.

But there must be some bad luck, right? He hasn’t spent his brief career playing on the fastest, most spaced-out team in the league. Wilson is nobody’s idea of a high-flyer, but maybe he just hasn’t had a clean breakaway opportunity yet.

Well, he got that opportunity on Monday night. Spoiler alert: Wilson still has no career dunks to his name…

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Jalen Wilson, despite shooting just 4-of-16, played an acceptable game as a starter against Sacramento. He bullied his way to the line a few times, and finished with 15/2/4, continuing a string of improved performances for the 24-year-old sophomore.

He just couldn’t shoot, and alas, Wilson’s missed dunk was the touchstone of what became the home team’s seventh loss in a row.

Once again, they played hard. Nic Claxton brought it against the most physically annoying center in the league, Domantas Sabonis, particularly in the first half. He fought and fought, and when Day’Ron Sharpe relieved him off the bench, he fought as well, posting a 12/11 double-double (and again, winning his minutes).

The Nets won the first half 54-47, and while the Kings missed many-an-open-three, Brooklyn deserved their good fortune. If Sacramento made a nice extra pass, the hosts forced them to make an extra-extra pass, and that led to ten early turnovers, and long possessions…

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But they just can’t score. They just can’t score at an NBA level, and it manifests differently every night. Sometimes it’s turnovers, sometimes an inability to finish at the rim, other times poor 3-point shooting, and increasingly often, it’s all the above.

On Monday, the Nets couldn’t buy a bucket in the second half, though Jordi Fernández focused on the 16 turnovers that led to 23 points for SacTown.

“It was our turnovers. Like, if you look at the first half, we had five turnovers for five points. I thought we were the physical team, and we had some control. I think [Russell] a great job controlling the game. And then in the second half, we had 11 turnovers for 18 points.”

Fernández isn’t wrong of course; those turnovers did kill the Nets and allowed Sacramento’s high-flying athletes to get out and run. But the Kings finished with more turnovers! They Nets just couldn’t convert. Sometimes it was an embarrassing or even unlucky play, like Jalen Wilson blowing a tire, but is it really unlucky if it keeps happening?

Per Cleaning the Glass, the Nets shot just 63% directly at the rim (a 36th percentile number) and 2-of-16 from floater range. Sabonis had a great game, continuing to bruise Claxton (who fouled out) and the rest of the Nets for a monster 21/22/10 triple-double, but he is no great rim protector.

The Nets missed four dunks, none of which were blocked. They shot 10-of-36 from three. In their last seven games, they’ve scored under 100 points just twice (each time, they reached 101).

“Obviously, if we keep doing it, it’s my fault, because I gotta help the guys, and that’s why we’re watching film,” said Jordi Fernández in a polite, white lie.

Brooklyn’s offensive ineptitude is not anybody’s fault. Of course, it’s by design. D’Angelo Russell played well, putting up 19/3/4, and would have had more assists if his teammates shot better.

Tosan Evbuomwan came off the bench to score nine immediate points in the first quarter, ultimately finishing with 15/8/2…

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…though his five turnovers were indicative of some over-dribbling and out-sized ambitions.

There’s not much else to say, though the Nets at least made it interesting for three quarters before completely flat-lining and scoring 18 points int he fourth quarter.

Noah Clowney played just 12:28 before spraining his left ankle, and while the Nets did not have an update after the game, it did not look good, as he was unable to put any weight…

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Worryingly, it is the same ankle he sprained the last time Brooklyn played Sacramento, then on November 24, after which he missed seven games.

As the clock ran down, the purplest fans in attendance chanted “Light The Beam,” while the music playing over the loud-speakers got auspiciously louder.

Vince Carter did not get his jersey retired on Monday night, and though Barclays Center celebrated Chinese New Year during timeouts and halftime, there was no huge out-pouring of love between franchise and fanbase. The basketball didn’t demand it. Just apathy.

This is the best path forward for the Nets, and really, their only option after a Big Three failure and a depressing 2023-24 season. But it’s not a fun path.

Final Score: Sacramento Kings 110, Brooklyn Nets 96

Injury Report

Though Noah Clowney did not receive an immediate update postgame, Jordi Fernández spoke about four injured Nets pregame, with positive updates on Cam Thomas and Trendon Watford, who have both been out for weeks with hamstring injuries.

On Trendon: “He looks great. He’s been working hard, and we’ll see him this week. I cannot tell you exactly what game, but we’ll see him back. So we’re excited for the group, and I’m happy for him.”

On Thomas: “He’ll be scanned, I think on Wednesday, and then we’ll give you guys a timeline on return to play. He’s been working, doing a great job, and that’s the next step he will take.”

On Cam Johnson, who missed his third straight game with another ankle tweak: “He’ll be reevaluated, I think next week. He’s out right now. Obviously we want him to get that ankle right, he was good when he came back, it’s just, he tweaked it again. Twice. And again, it’s unlucky, but we just want to make sure that now it’s strong enough that he’ll be able to play through things and he’s 100 percent.”

On Ben Simmons, who was once again ruled out with lower back soreness: “You know, he went out there [Saturday] and tried to move around and was not feeling good. We’ve done our job, try to make sure everything was looking good. He’s got discomfort. He’ll be out, and then he’ll be back. Right now, listed day-to-day.”

Milestone Watch

  • Donatas Sabonis — 21 points, 22 rebounds and 10 assists — now has 65 triple-doubles at age 28, tenth in the league all-time.

Next Up

New Orleans Pelicans v Charlotte Hornets
Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images

LaMelo Ball left the Charlotte Hornets game on Monday with an ankle sprain, which could have huge implications for Brooklyn’s race to the bottom of the standings. They take on the Hornets (and possibly Ball) on Wednesday night in Charlotte, with tip-off at 7:00 p.m. ET. Not 7:30!