Something must give when Brooklyn Nets, losers of four straight matches, square against the sinking, short -handed spurs on Tuesday evening in San Antonio.
The spurs plays the second of a two-game home and started with a loss of 146-132 to western conference leaders Oklahoma City on Sunday. Rookie Stephon Castle scored 32 points from the bench, which was only one point of his career high, and De’aaron Fox had 20 points while playing his first real home game since he was traded to San Antonio in early February.
“We got 132 points – it is enough to win each match for a season, but you can’t give up 146 and expect to win,” Fox said.
Jeremy Sochan added 17 points, Devin Vassell had 15 and Harrison Barnes got 14 for Spurs, which has lost five of the last six matches. They have been without Star Center Victor Wembanyama since February 20 due to deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) in his right shoulder, which ended his season.
San Antonio, who played on back-to-back nights after winning in Memphis on Saturday, led by five points at half time while preserving a layer record 16 3-points in half. But the spurs ended on gasoline during the second half and struck as many as 22 points late in the match.
“We made many pictures, and at some point we stopped doing a little,” said Spurs Interim’s head coach Mitch Johnson. “This is where you have to put your energy into stopping and getting the returns and not turning the ball.”
Nets goes to San Antonio on the heel of a setback of 115-94 in Detroit on Saturday. Tyrese Martin led Brooklyn with 23 points from the bench. Jalen Wilson scored 14 points and Cameron Johnson added 13 in a game that Nets was beaten with 23 points at half time but rally within six points on the way to the fourth before giving up.
Brooklyn shot only 30.5 percent (29 out of 95) from the floor in the loss and made only 6 of its 39 3-point attempts (15.4 percent). Johnson went 0-for-10 beyond the arch and snapped a 60-match dash with at least a 3-pointer.
“Of course we struggled to shoot, and it’s hard to win a basketball game when you shoot like this,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “We will continue to shoot – that means the next game we will do more.
“On the positive side we made OK and took care of the ball against a very aggressive defensive team and we created 24 points out of 23 turnover, which says we were aggressive (in the defensive end).”
After bounding a seasonal high with three straight wins during the second week in February, Brooklyn has lost five of the last six games.
Brooklyn played without a leading goal scorer Cam Thomas, who returned in Friday’s loss at home to Portland after missing two months with a strained left hamstring, and D’Angelo Russell (destroyed the right ankle). Russell has not played since February 20 but could return. Thomas is expected to play.
On Monday, Nets announced that they would not sign the former lottery Pick Killian Hayes to a second 10-day contract and cut the point guard after he started Brooklyn’s last five games.
San Antonio won the first game between the team this season 96-87 on December 27 in Brooklyn.
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