Brooklyn Nets drop sleepy back-to-back vs. Sacramento Kings, 107-77

The Brooklyn Nets faced the Sacramento Kings on the second night of a back-to-back on Sunday night, April 7, not exactly an enticing proposition with the home team knocked out of playoff contention. Meanwhile the Kings will be fighting for playoff position in the blood-thirsty Western Conference until season’s end.

Brooklyn, on the other end of the spectrum, pulled up to the party with eight available bodies.

Two of them were rookies, rookies that won the Nets a game not 24 hours earlier and in thrilling, comeback fashion no less. It hardly mattered that the opponent was the Detroit Pistons’ C-team; to see Noah Clowney and Jalen Wilson ball out was enough for Nets fans, and enough for Head Coach Kevin Ollie:

“I’ve seen the Brooklyn way. I’ve seen grit, I’ve seen some style, I’ve seen some bravado, and that’s Brooklyn, you know? Brooklyn’s got style, but we’re gritty.”

The coach wasn’t just following the company line in complimenting the borough, but reacting to a raucous Barclays Center crowd that treated Brooklyn’s comeback on Saturday like a playoff win. To reward all parties involved, Ollie started Wilson and Clowney on Sunday night, the first start of the latter’s NBA career.

Brooklyn’s long-term plan is well-documented at this point, its success hinging on the franchise’s ability to add a Donovan Mitchell-caliber player to ready-made support system of a roster. And while Nets fans are divided on the viability of this plan, one thing is for sure: It is not an enjoyable process.

The Brooklyn Nets faced the Sacramento Kings on the second night of a back-to-back on Sunday night, April 7, not exactly an enticing proposition with the home team knocked out of playoff contention. Meanwhile the Kings will be fighting for playoff position in the blood-thirsty Western Conference until season’s end.

Brooklyn, on the other end of the spectrum, pulled up to the party with eight available bodies.

Two of them were rookies, rookies that won the Nets a game not 24 hours earlier and in thrilling, comeback fashion no less. It hardly mattered that the opponent was the Detroit Pistons’ C-team; to see Noah Clowney and Jalen Wilson ball out was enough for Nets fans, and enough for Head Coach Kevin Ollie:

“I’ve seen the Brooklyn way. I’ve seen grit, I’ve seen some style, I’ve seen some bravado, and that’s Brooklyn, you know? Brooklyn’s got style, but we’re gritty.”

The coach wasn’t just following the company line in complimenting the borough, but reacting to a raucous Barclays Center crowd that treated Brooklyn’s comeback on Saturday like a playoff win. To reward all parties involved, Ollie started Wilson and Clowney on Sunday night, the first start of the latter’s NBA career.

Brooklyn’s long-term plan is well-documented at this point, its success hinging on the franchise’s ability to add a Donovan Mitchell-caliber player to ready-made support system of a roster. And while Nets fans are divided on the viability of this plan, one thing is for sure: It is not an enjoyable process.

Nets fans do not mind the losing so much as the lack of tangible progress. Maybe progress is happening in the backrooms of HSS Training Center, with Sean Marks & co. chipping away at The Big Move one tedious phone call at a time.

But every time Noah Clowney hits a clutch 3-pointer against an NBA opponent, no matter how bad, when Jalen Wilson takes a charge, hell, when 22-year-old Cam Thomas sees a double-team and reads the low man, kicking it to the corner, the Nets take a step forward as an organization. It matters less where the steps might lead or even how big they are, just that they’re being taken.

Clowney got one hell of a test on Sunday night, defending Domantas Sabonis for the majority of his 35 minutes. He got the predictable elbow to the chest on a few possessions, Sacramento’s bench taunting him with “too small” gestures, and saw the Lithuanian exit with 18/20/9.

But that’s what April is all about, and itt’s what many Nets fans wish more of this season was about.

Said Ollie of his young big, “He’s just gotta be in it, you know? This is good for him. He’s gotta be in it and experience it, learn from it, just as long as you don’t quit in it, and he’s not gonna quit in it. These guys have been around, Sabonis is an All-Star, so hopefully he watches the tape and maybe gets something from Sabonis to bring it in his game, go lift some weights, all that stuff. So this is a great moment for him. He’s not gonna hang his head and get discouraged from it, he’s actually getting better from this.”

Two of them came on a Jalen Wilson alley-oop pass, and the very act of Wilson making a crisp decision off the catch, a key area in his development, was enough to soften the impending blowout…

Wilson brought it early as well, scoring six points in the opening frame, finishing with 11/6/3/1/1 in 32 minutes.

The main difference for the rookies in game two of the weekend, aside from colder shooting, is that Ollie relied on them to do far more than just to bring energy off the bench. Thus, Clowney and Wilson drew Sacramento’s full attention and ire.

They could match Detroit’s energy, a young team hungry for a win at the Barclays, but Sacramento was on a business trip, a whole other side of the NBA that the visitors rudely introduced to the young Nets on Sunday. Such is life.

“They just got to continue to learn, play through these situations and just learn from each other,” said Brooklyn’s head coach of his rookies. “These are competitive games, Sacramento is still playing for seeding in the playoffs, so these teams are gonna still play aggressively and play hard, but these minutes are crucial for their learning growth, getting some valuable minutes so they can have some great experiences coming back for next year.”

As for the actual game, it was over quick. Brooklyn jumped out to a 15-10 lead after eight sluggish minutes, and then the Kings woke up. De’Aaron Fox shifted his way to 20 points, Sabonis did his work down low, and Keegan Murray complemented those two with 18 points on his usual diet of 3-pointers and floaters.

Murray at least was kind enough to compliment Clowney post-game, though not particularly hard to do after an easy win: “I feel like Clowney played with good energy and good effort. I feel like he has a lot more, with his size and athleticism, to add to his game. So it’ll be cool to see both those [rookies] develop in this league.”

Dennis Schröder was fine until it was time to shoot the rock, going 1-of-12 from the floor. Thomas and Bridges each played on autopilot, with Thomas scoring 21 points on 19 true-shooting possessions, Bridges playing just 24 minutes and scoring eight points, more observer than participant.

“I’m not sure [why],” said Bridges on his offensive reluctance. “I think Cam has been aggressive and then Dennis being more aggressive, it’s kinda just that work point, being that middleman. But, just trying to find it, you know, throughout.”

The 10-minute disparity in minutes between Sabonis and Bridges — Sabonis played 34 — permitted the big Lithuanian to edge ahead of Bridges in the season battle for durability in 2023-24: 2,790 to 2,782. DeMar DeRozan leads the league with a presumably insurmountable 2,866. Bridges has led the league in minutes the last two seasons.

The bench trio of Lonnie Walker IV, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Trendon Watford couldn’t overcome Sacramento either. Watford lead the pack with 16 points, though he took 18 shots to get there. More encouraging, he shot an encouraging 2-of-5 from distance, though he did turn the ball over four times for the second game in a row, posting mixed results in his two main areas of focus.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be hard to play him if he gets four turnovers,” said Ollie pregame. “I don’t care how aggressive he is. He can’t have four turnovers. It’s gonna be hard to play him that way but you also want him to play with freedom and then just keep showing them tape. We do a great job with our individual coaching. Jay Hernandez — I believe — is his individual coach. They watch tape all the time.”

Watford spoke in the post-game presser Sunday, assuring both himself and the media that he would get in the film room and do whatever he can to cut down on his giveaways; that’s what April basketball is all about when you’re on the wrong side of the playoffs.

Individual improvement may not be the key to Brooklyn’s potential resurrection, but that’s what we have for now. At least it’s something.

Final Score: Sacramento Kings 107, Brooklyn Nets 77

Injury Update

There was considerable late movement on Brooklyn’s injury report Sunday night. Dennis Schröder and Nic Claxton both started as “questionable,” and while the former was good to go, the latter missed his first game since the infamous December 27 matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks with a left ankle sprain.

“We’re just precautious with that,” said Ollie of Claxton, “and hopefully we can get him back for Toronto.”

At least Claxton got some attention for his bench garb from Richard Jefferson…