Thursday’s blowout in Cleveland lingered, but Friday offered a chance to respond. A chance to compete against the defending NBA champions. And for stretches, the Nets did exactly that.
It just wasn’t enough.
Despite a sharper start and a spirited third-quarter push, Brooklyn fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder 105-86 at Paycom Center, slipping to 15-40 and extending its losing streak to three games. The fight was evident. The execution, particularly offensively, wasn’t.
Brooklyn limited the Thunder to just 42.2% shooting but couldn’t capitalize, finishing at 36.7% itself, committing 21 turnovers and watching its bench get outscored 55-24. That imbalance defined Nets performance that swung between resilience and missed opportunity.
Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists, continuing to shoulder the offensive burden on a night when Nic Claxton and Ziaire Williams were sidelined. Nolan Traoré, in his 10th straight start, added 17 points and three assists, while Day’Ron Sharpe once again filled in at center with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Reserve Jared McCain paced four Thunder players in double figures with 21 points and four rebounds.
Porter and Egor Dëmin hadn’t appeared in a back-to-back in more than two months, their workloads carefully managed throughout the season. Both were available Friday, and early on, that freshness showed.
The Nets opened with a level of engagement missing a night earlier. Traoré pushed the tempo and delivered six quick points, Porter saw a couple shots fall, and Brooklyn carved out an early edge in the paint despite struggles from deep. Defensively, the effort was just as noticeable. Facing an Oklahoma City group without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, the Nets held the Thunder to 27.3% in the opening quarter and carried a 23-21 lead into the second after leading by as many as six, weathering a brief Chet Holmgren burst in the process.
But then the wheel’s fell off for a bit. Brooklyn opened the second quarter 0-for-9, with turnovers and even a shot-clock violation mixed in as Oklahoma City quietly built a 10-point cushion. The Nets didn’t register their first field goal of the period until 3:30 remained in the half, when Sharpe slipped free for a dunk that accounted for his fifth and sixth points. Remarkably, because the Thunder weren’t much sharper early in the quarter, the game was still within reach.
But the numbers told the larger story. Brooklyn shot just 3-for-17 in the second and an ice-cold 2-for-23 from beyond the arc in the first half. The process wasn’t entirely broken, but the results were unforgiving. Their 33 first-half points tied for the third-fewest by any team in a half this season, and Oklahoma City’s late surge, powered by 10 bench points from Alex Caruso and 52.9% shooting in the quarter, sent Brooklyn into the break down 17.
The 10-point second quarter matched the Nets’ season low for a period, equaling the fourth-quarter output from their 54-point loss at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 21. For a moment, it felt like the game might drift in that same direction. Instead, the Nets responded.
After Holmgren’s second 3-pointer stretched Oklahoma City’s lead to 18, Brooklyn seized a window against the Thunder’s second unit. Noah Clowney converted a 3-point play, back-to-back steals created momentum, Porter knocked down a 3-pointer and Danny Wolf raced ahead for a breakaway dunk, trimming the deficit to 10 with 6:29 left in the third. The sequence sparked a 19-10 run to open the quarter.
Even when Oklahoma City pushed its advantage back to 17, Brooklyn refused to fold, answering with a 9-0 push that cut it to 71-63. The third quarter belonged to the Nets statistically. They shot 57.1%, outscored the Thunder 34-26 and held them under 40% from the floor, entering the final period trailing 77-67 but carrying real momentum.
Wolf anchored the bench effort with eight third-quarter points. Traoré had 13 and two assists entering the fourth. Porter poured in nine in the period, largely at the line, while Jalen Wilson’s brief third-quarter stint delivered noticeable defensive activity.
It lasted only so long.
Oklahoma City opened the fourth with a decisive burst. Quick buckets from Nikola Topic and Isaiah Hartenstein shifted the tone, and a Brooklyn turnover that led to a Cason Wallace layup pushed the Thunder’s lead back to 18 with 8:59 remaining. From there, the deficit held.
The effort was there. The response after adversity was real. But stretches of cold shooting and untimely mistakes left too much ground to recover, a theme that continues to follow a roster learning how to create sustained results.
The Nets return to action Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
