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Brooklyn Nets unleash fire and fury on Portland Trail Blazers, win 132-114

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Brooklyn Nets v Portland Trail Blazers
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

The league’s worst offense in the new year went berserk in the Pacific Northwest, and though the win dropped them to 7th in lotto odds, it felt damn good.

When the injury situation for the Brooklyn Nets reached its nadir last Wednesday, there was a silver lining. Well, two.

First: the NBA Draft Lottery odds, which are, at worst, a consolation prize for every loss.

Second: Considering those NBA Draft Lottery odds, which currently have the Nets set to make their first top-20 selection since moving to Brooklyn, those injured players are being with the maximum amount of care possible. In the case of last Wednesday, it was a staggering ten Nets missing the game with injury.

Now, a few of those were not rotation regulars, such as De’Anthony Melton, Bojan Bogdanović, and Maxwell Lewis. But to begin the current six-game road trip the Nets are on, Ben Simmons and Day’Ron Sharpe returned, and each played quite well against the Denver Nuggets.

Following a heart-breaking, overtime loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday, pushing Brooklyn’s season-high losing streak to five, they got more good injury news. Nearly a week after Detroit, they’d have D’Angelo Russell and Cam Johnson back when taking on the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday. (Though Nic Claxton would miss the game with a “minor” hamstring injury. Can’t have it all.)

Neither looked a step slow. Cam Johnson waltzed into another 24 points to lead Brooklyn, as evidently even missed time couldn’t slow his roll…

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And while Russell shot just 3-of-11, he again orchestrated Brooklyn’s offense to perfection while on the floor. He dropped nine assists to one turnover, and once again made the biggest difference in transition. His hit-ahead passes and general pace — helped by his four steals — had the Nets looking nothing like a bottom-dwelling fast-break offense.

Brooklyn scored a season-high 29 points in transition against a Portland team who, put politely, was not a model of consistency.

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“D’Angelo helps so much to close those games,” said Johnson. “So under control. So under control and just handles business.”

Maybe it was just the return of those impact guys, maybe it was a five-game losing-streak, the sight of a beatable opponent on the calendar, or all the above, but the Nets were a freight train on Tuesday, rolling into Portland and destroying everything in their path.

Brooklyn never trailed, shooting 19-of-41 from three. Initially, the Blazers were just as hot, but by the fourth quarter, the Nets were running a one-man race.

Noah Clowney followed up his 0-of-10 performance in Utah with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, even starting at center for the absent Claxton…

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Jalen Wilson must frequent NetsDaily, turning a much-needed 14 points to temporarily silence the critics (me) on 6-of-8 shooting. Down the list we go: Tosan Evbuomwan and Ziaire Williams also reached double-figures, and Keon Johnson was Brooklyn’s 3rd 20-point scorer, showing his former team what they were missing.

“I think that learning from losses is what’s most important,” said Head Coach Jordi Fernández. “And I think that in Utah, we gave ourselves a chance. We didn’t play consistently … our focus was not there for 48 minutes, and I think today, our focus was there, our intensity.”

The game was never a true blowout, but the Nets were never in danger either. A 16-point first-half lead dwindled to a couple possessions, but then it was 18 again in the fourth quarter. Scoot Henderson scored a career-high 39 points on, shockingly, eight made threes, but if not for his efforts, it would have been a true laugher. Deandre Ayton, in 24 minutes, scored two points on 1-of-4 shooting…

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Ben Simmons also scored in single-digits, but at least he added 11 assists and nine boards. Between he and Russell, Brooklyn had at least one floor-general on the floor at all times, and it made everybody’s life easier.

Said Fernández: “You want to run after makes and after misses, but obviously, having Ben rebounding the ball well, it’s important to be able to run. When you rebound is when your offense starts, and I think that’s, like, what Ben brings to the table. His superpower is just how fast he gets the ball to us up the floor”

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The Brooklyn Nets will not have many more games like this in 2025. Well, no team will shoot 54/46/83 that often, but if the Nets continue to play close to this well on offense, expect trades of Johnson and Russell. This season is about that darn first-round pick, and Brooklyn might be teetering on the brink of too much offensive talent.

That’s a worry for another day, though. Tuesday night was damn-near euphoric, as a bunch of guys either coming back from injury or in the midst of a bunch of losses just let it fly, their hustle rewarded with buckets. Twelve Nets touched the court, and twelve Nets won their minutes. The win dropped them to seventh, a half-game behind Portland, in lottery odds, but that’s a tomorrow-worry.

“I’m proud of the guys. We cherish these wins, and we’re gonna keep it going.” — Cam Johnson.

Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 132, Portland Trail Blazers 114

Milestone Watch

Team milestones lead the way on such an unstoppable night for the offense.

  • 132 total points, 54.4 FG%, 29 fast-break points, those are all season-highs for Brooklyn. Their 36 assists are a season-high for a regulation game (surpassed only by their early overtime loss to Denver), and their 18-point margin of victory is also a season-high.
  • Brooklyn also scored 40 points in the first quarter, their first 40-point quarter since November, and their third overall.
  • Ziaire Williams, after going 3-of-4 from deep on Tuesday, is shooting 43.6% from three since his return, now seven games in.
  • Despite an injury hiatus in the middle of it, Cam Johnson has scored 20+ points in three straight appearances. That ties a career-best streak.

Injury Update

The good injury news didn’t stop at D’Angelo Russell and Cam Johnson, but included Dariq Whitehead. Whitehead only played a couple of garbage-time minutes, but it was better than a string of absences due to being in concussion protocol, which he ultimately passed.

Nic Claxton, however, missed the contest with a right hamstring issue. While hamstrings have killed the Nets this season (namely Trendon Watford and Cam Thomas), there may be cause for optimism with Clax. According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, Jordi Fernández said pregame that his starting center didn’t suffer a severe pull or tear in the hammy, just that it felt “a little tight.”

Next Up

Miami Heat v Los Angeles Clippers
Photo by Tyler Ross/NBAE via Getty Images

The Los Angeles teams have resumed their NBA seasons this week, amid the devastating wildfires in the city. Brooklyn faces the Los Angeles Clippers, featuring an old friend, on a back-to-back on Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.