OKLAHOMA CITY — The Nets ended the year playing some of their worst basketball of the season.
Brooklyn’s headlong spiral continued with a 124-108 New Year’s Eve loss to Oklahoma City before a sellout crowd of 18,203 at Paycom Center.
The crowd took part in its usual pregame prayer before tipoff. The Nets (15-18) could’ve used some of those supplications, having dropped three in a row and eight of their last 10 — the two victories over woebegone Detroit — as their defense has bottomed out.
“We’re definitely frustrated. Nobody wants to lose. I hate losing, everybody hates losing,” Nic Claxton said. “We just got to figure it out. We just can’t get used to losing. Need to figure out solutions and figure out ways to fix it.”
Sunday, the offense disappeared, too.
Brooklyn allowed 54.2 percent shooting, and 18 of 33 from 3-point range. It’s a damning indictment that defensive ineptitude like that has become the norm.
But watching the Nets shoot just 38 percent themselves — and a nightmarish 12 of 46 from deep — was shocking, even against a stout Thunder defense.
They led the Thunder by 10 in the first quarter, but trailed by 21 in the fourth
“We had good looks, good offense, the ball was moving, we just weren’t making shots… Defensively, we’re still growing in that aspect, still figuring out what works for our team,” said Cam Thomas, admitting they need a lot of growth in the area of trust to fix their badly broken defense. “A lot, obviously. A lot. Obviously everybody feels like if nobody has your back on a rotation, then we’re not going to help as much. So obviously that’s a part of it we can still grow.
“But I’d probably say not getting down when teams go on runs, that’s the main thing. It’s the NBA. Everybody goes on runs. But we can’t get down, start putting our heads down. Just because a team goes on an 8-0, 10-0 run. Whether coach calls a timeout or not, just push the ball and get a good shot up, make or miss, just keep playing because the tables will turn. It’s a basketball game. Everybody has a run, so we’ve just got to stay focused and not get down when teams go on runs.”
Thomas wasn’t wrong.
Despite his 20 points off the bench — and Mikal Bridges’ team-high 22 points, seven boards and seven assists — the Nets gave up two modest runs, and never had an answer for either.
A 10-0 run flipped a 44-39 Brooklyn lead into a five-point deficit. It never led again.
Down just 71-67 in the third, a modest 7-0 run ended the Nets’ hopes.
“Just not enough resistance, not being on the same page, individual defense when we go down,” said Nic Claxton, who had 15 points and a career-high tying 16 boards.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points and six assists for OKC, while Chet Holmgren had 18 points and 10 boards. The Thunder put six in double figures.
Despite sprinting out to an 18-8 lead on a Bridges 3-pointer, the Nets couldn’t hold it. Not even close.
Still clinging to a 44-39 edge after a Thomas 3 with 8:45 left in the first half, the Nets went ice cold.
They missed seven straight shots and committed a turnover to allow 10 unanswered points.
Jalen Williams’ midrange pull-up capped the run and made it 49-44.
Four times the Nets pulled even, the last at 61-all on a Dorian Finney-Smith 3-pointer. But down by four moments later, they folded.
The Nets coughed up seven answered points, capped by fast-break baskets from Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander. The latter pushed it to 78-67 with 5:37 left in the third quarter, and the deficit swelled to 21 in the fourth.
The Nets start the New Year with a back-to-back at New Orleans and Houston, and with one of the league’s worst defenses.
“We got the looks we wanted. Just couldn’t make them. We got the looks we wanted. We just got to get stops on the other end, as well. They just shot 54 (percent) from the field, so just gotta be better,” said Bridges. “Obviously, we always (have to) play harder and communicate more. But scheme stuff, you just leave that for coaches to figure it out for that.”
