Brooklyn appeared to be ready to stun the NBA world on Friday against a Western Conference contender. But fell apart in the final period.
The Brooklyn Nets looked like it was going to deliver the NBA version of a Sweet 16 upset. They had the Los Angeles Lakers against the ropes with a late lead on Friday night.
But the Nets fell apart in the fourth quarter, settling for just 15 points in the final period to take the 116-99 road loss inside Crypto Arena.
Brooklyn proved it wasn't attempting to pull off any "tanking" with its effort in the first three quarters. Especially on a day when the Nets and the rest of the league learned of new proposals that could circumvent tanking and alter the NBA Draft.
But again, the fourth quarter became a big challenge for Brooklyn as head coach Jordi Fernandez discovered.
"Obviously finding ways to score, we only scored 15 points, we just struggled right there," Fernandez said to reporters. "But we competed all the way through. Everybody got to play tonight. Everyone from one to 11 played really hard and did great things. Everyone got better."
It didn't help how short-handed the Nets remained. Brooklyn is still rolling without leading scorer Michael Porter Jr., as his ankle injury still hasn't determined if the Nets will shut him down for the rest of the season. Rookie sharpshooter Egor Demin is another who is sitting out for the rest of the season amid his foot ailment. Fellow rookie Danny Wolf (ankle) also sat out along with Day'Ron Sharpe (wrist, out for the season).
Brooklyn had trouble with "three guys who can really change games" in Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves. But again, Fernandez raved about the effort from his team.
Ziaire Williams defended Doncic but wasn't on the floor in the fourth quarter. Fernandez wanted to give the younger guys some more action for developmental purposes but insists that the hefty fourth quarter benching wasn't anything that he did wrong.
"We're all forced to grow really fast," Fernandez said.
Josh Minott ended up leading the night with 18 points, including throwing dunk a fierce dunk in the second half.
Center Nic Claxton dropped 16 points to finish second on Brooklyn. Williams ended with 16 points as well. Rookie Ben Saraf added 10 points for the Nets.
Jalen Wilson and Nolan Traore added nine points apiece with the latter leading the way in assists at seven. He also grabbed a team-high four steals.
Brooklyn drops to 17-57 overall with eight games left.
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