The Brooklyn Nets looked like a team still on vacation during their first game out of the All-Star break. Jordi Fernandez's squad sleepwalked through a 112-84 loss to the streaking Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday to open the second half of the season.
The game marked the Nets' NBA-leading eighth wire-to-wire loss of the season. Brooklyn trailed by as much as 43 points.
“It was everything. The physicality, intensity, all those things we didn’t match,” Fernandez said. “Their physicality, their intensity, was as it should be for a winning team. We were not even close.”
With starting center Nic Claxton sidelined, the Nets had no answers for the Cavaliers on either end during the lopsided loss. They shot 30-of-87 (34.5 percent) from the field and 14-of-49 (28.6 percent) from three.
Brooklyn offered little resistance defensively as the Cavs shot 44-of-86 (51.2 percent) with seven players reaching double figures.
Nets dominated by Cavs during blowout loss that raises position in tank race
Brooklyn's lack of engagement was evident from the opening tip. Following a pair of miscommunications on their first two possessions, Fernandez called a timeout 40 seconds into the game in an attempt to wake his team up. He had little success in doing so.
“It was two mistakes that were completely controllable, and it just tells me about the readiness of our players. It was the lack of effort and readiness, and I’m not going to let it fly. And we didn’t wake up,” Fernandez said. “We know we’re better, our standards are much higher than this. Now we’ve got to move on to the next one, and hold everybody accountable, myself included, and go and fight better [on Friday in Oklahoma City].”
Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists on 5-of-13 shooting. Ochai Agbaji added 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting off the bench during his second game with Brooklyn. Danny Wolf chipped in 11 points and seven assists on 4-of-12 shooting, while Egor Demin tallied 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting.
Donovan Mitchell had a game-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting for Cleveland, while James Harden added 16 points and nine assists on 6-of-8 shooting.
The loss comes with a silver lining for the Nets, who moved into a tie with the Washington Wizards for fourth place in the draft lottery standings. Brooklyn is tied in the win column and two back in the loss column of the Indiana Pacers and New Orleans Pelicans, who are tied for second.
Fernandez's squad will be back in action on Friday during a road matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
