Brooklyn Nets send home fans out with a bang, defeat Toronto Raptors 106-102

No Brooklyn Net drew a shorter stick this season than Cam Johnson. A hamstring injury derailed his preseason, then he got hurt on Opening Night, and was perpetually in and out of the lineup for the next six months. Four leg injuries: hamstring, calf, ankle and toe.

That’s not why Johnson drew the ire of Nets fans, but it was another strike on his record. And while even the harshest fans don’t view injuries as a personal failing but an unfortunate reality, discussion around Johnson’s missed time was at least based in reality; the five-year veteran has only played over 60 games one time in his career.

The rest of the criticism that went Johnson’s way was mostly unfounded, and he became a scapegoat for a fanbase that enjoyed this NBA season less than anybody (understandably so). Brooklyn’s only reliable shot-creator stopped attacking the paint after a couple months, and Johnson still shot 39.3% from deep, though that was his worst percentage in three years.

His lack of qualifications to be the second-biggest Net on the court, which he often was, weren’t on him, and Brooklyn still defended and rebounded at nearly the exact same rate whether or not he played. Johnson rarely turned it over, rarely took bad shots, though he did buff out the edges of his game, easily posting a career high assist-rate with slightly more creation responsibilities.

It could be his (descending) $100 million price-tag that fans still haven’t adjusted to, unaware or unwilling to accept that for the next three seasons, Johnson will essentially be making one-seventh of the salary cap. To sum it up: Johnson has been almost exactly as advertised in his first full season in Brooklyn, and fans have roasted him for it.

Perhaps that’s why Kevin Ollie started Noah Clowney against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, Fan Appreciation Night, at the Barclays Center for Brooklyn’s final home game of the season.

It was a quick way to boost the mood of Brooklyn fans, who needed it after Mikal Bridges semi-apologized for the underwhelming season while addressing the crowd, ever the encapsulation of the last six months…

Entering action, Ollie said his focus going into Wednesday was: “just be grateful for another opportunity to play in front of this great fan base and continue to do the things that make them proud of us and get them out of their seat tonight.”

Clowney indeed got Nets fans out of their seats on Wednesday, continuing his habit of stuffing every shot taken in his vicinity. He recorded seven blocks on Wednesday night, his defensive ability not dimmed, but enhanced by playing next to Nic Claxton…

And while he missed the only two threes he took, Clowney’s offense wasn’t too shabby either. His opponent may have been a Toronto team missing seven quality rotation players and another two end-of-bench contributors, but Clowney still made the most of his start at the 4, aggressively driving the ball and finishing at the rim against closeouts…

When asked by Meghan Triplett at halftime what stood out about his front-court partner for the evening, Nic Claxton said: “Just, him covering up for everybody’s mistakes a lot like I do on the defensive end. He’s just a smart basketball player, he retains information really well.”

Claxton’s humble-brag was well-received; he was on his way to a 14/11/4 stat-line with five blocks, as he and his protégé flashed the upside of such a long, nimble back-line. The two South Carolinians — protected the rim ferociously, and the Raptors shot a pitiful 35.2% inside the arc on Wednesday.

Claxton was a fan of the double-big lineup, and who wouldn’t be? “The league is not all about small-ball anymore. You see a lot of teams that have two bigs on the court, they have more size on the court, and that’s an area that we’ve really lacked in the past. So maybe that’ll be something that can fix those problems.”

Unfortunately, the visitors swiftly figured out they should back up to where Clowney and Claxton couldn’t bother them, and shot 16-of-40 from deep. Immanuel Quickley (32 points) and rookie Gradey Dick (24) accounted for ten of those makes as Toronto’s leading scorers on the evening.

The Raps seized a modest lead in the second quarter, and clung to it through the fourth quarter, stifling a Brooklyn offense stuck in quicksand, a fitting end to their season at Barclays. Cam Thomas led the way with 23 points, but couldn’t buy a two-point basket (or an assist), shooting 7-of-22 despite five threes.

Brooklyn’s size, starting Claxton and Clowney and bringing Day’Ron Sharpe off the bench, allowed them to grind their way into 48 paint-points, stabilizing their offense until Dennis Schröder arrived to enact some revenge.

The ex-Raptor hunted Dick on switches, and drove him to the basket repeatedly, either finishing himself or dropping dimes all over the court…

Bridges continued his passive play content to jack threes without driving much. Eight of his nine shots came from deep, and he hit enough to score 11 points, while only playing 22 minutes, including none in the fourth quarter. Ollie confirmed that his leading man is indeed fine after the game, with a knowing smile.

Meanwhile, the much-maligned Johnson hit timely shots to score 13 points, joining the five starters in double-figures.

It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough for Brooklyn to crawl back from a late, eight-point deficit to send their fans home with one last exciting finish. The usual suspects would decide the outcome. Down two, Clowney flushed a big put-back dunk, followed by Claxton throwing down an and-1 poster to take the lead. But he’d miss the free-throw, and Quickley made ‘em pay with a go-ahead 3-pointer.

The stakes — or rather, the absence of them — went out the window, and as has been the case for the last two weeks, the basketball existed unto itself. Brooklyn needed this win. Why? Who can say.

But when Dennis Schröder hit a layup to re-take the lead for good, Barclays erupted with joy. So did Ian Eagle, letting out a signature “OH YEAH!” that, against all odds, matched the moment perfectly…

Schröder would score Brooklyn’s final five points, all on free-throws, salting the game away, though not before a perfectly rookie sequence from Clowney. Did the 2023 first-round pick get stripped with the game on the line simply as an excuse to record his seventh block of the evening? Garrett Temple deserves no ill words, but we must ask, what did he think was going to happen as he strode down the court jousting with Clowney, looking to drop in a game-tying layup?

“They kept trying to lay the ball up, I kept blocking it,” said Noah Clowney of his performance, after joking that he had turned it over on purpose to add to the highlight reel. (He also commended his teammates for hustling back to retrieve the rebound, already showing mastery at the post-game podium.)

And so, the Nets won in front of another lively crowd, and a gaggle of young fans stood around mid-court thrilled to meet their favorite players after the win. The final home game of the season may have been the ultimate proof: Refusing to rebuild could be the smarter strategy in the long run, but man is it less fun in the short-term.

Basketball without standings consequences is not meaningless. The last two weeks have shown as much, both for the players like Clowney, Wilson, and Trendon Watford, and the fans who have shown up in spades. Moreover, the Nets are now 6-3 in the last nine. Tonight’s crowd of 17,732 was also the team’s 31st sellout in Brooklyn. Final numbers: the Nets finished 21st in attendance but filled 99.1% of Barclays Center for the season.

Ollie called the win emblematic of “the Brooklyn way: gritty but with a little style to get the fans into it. We didn’t want a blowout so they’d all leave early.”

It may have taken until the season’s took its very last breaths, but the Brooklyn Nets and their fans may have found something to look forward to. Maybe.

Remembering Summer League and G League

After being drafted at No. 21 in June, Noah Clowney did not play well in July in the Summer League with some fans using the “B” word in describing him. Clowney recalled that week in Las Vegas post-game.

“I feel like the fans believe in me a lot more than they did,” Clowney said. “Like, I always look back at Summer League, and that was rough. So it’s been good…

“G League was good for me, though,” Clowney added. “I enjoyed it. It was good for my confidence as well. So, sometimes I wanted to be up here, but then, other times it was like, no, I know this is good for me.”