The Brooklyn Nets’ 83-77 loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday night felt familiar.
It was the second straight game the Nets held an opponent to under 92 points, but the second in which they couldn’t score 80. It was also reminiscent of the Nets-Magic game on Dec. 30, when Brooklyn let a fourth-quarter lead slip away.
“I’m beginning to sound like a broken record here at home,” head coach Lionel Hollins said. “Nine straight losses [at home], most of them similar. In the last quarter we just couldn’t make a shot.”
Wayne Ellington’s long-range buzzer beater gave the Nets a 62-60 lead heading into the fourth quarter. As the Nets started to fade in the fourth, the Magic heated up, especially from deep rattling off four three-pointers on a 16-7 run to take a 76-69 lead with 4:33 to play.
After the game, the Nets said it was as simple as the Magic making shots while they didn’t: the Magic hit 5-of-7 three pointers in the fourth quarter; the Nets shot 5-of-17 from the field.
“We had our chances, but we just fell stagnant offensively,” Joe Johnson said. “We had some wide open shots and we didn’t make them. Defensively we couldn’t get stops.”
Before the fourth quarter, there were some positive signs from the white-clad Nets. The Nets held the Magic to 11 second-quarter points (a season-low) and 37 points in the first half (another season-low). The Nets’ bench – Markel Brown, Donald Sloan, Willie Reed and Thomas Robinson – provided a spark in the second quarter after a slow start in the first.
The bench cut an 11-point deficit to five and as the starters slowly filtered in, fed off the energy and appeared to have more jump in their game. Johnson came up with a steal and hit Thaddeus Young in transition for an emphatic dunk to tie the score 28-28. Young also hit the deck scrambling for loose balls, while Johnson put the Nets ahead with a three. Every player – save for Ellington who saw 11 seconds – had a plus-rating.
“We were struggling early in the first quarter and made a lineup change and fought back,” Hollins said. “In the second quarter we held them to 11 points, in the third quarter we came out and played even. We had opportunities to go ahead even further, but couldn’t take advantage of them.”
The Nets narrowly took the third 24-23, thanks to Ellington’s buzzer beater, but five turnovers kept the Magic around. Nikola Vucevic carried Orlando in the third quarter, scoring 13 of his game-high 20 points and game-high 10 boards. Victor Oladipo also had 20 points, filling in for the injured Elfrid Payton.
Brook Lopez had a team-high 17 points, Thaddeus Young had 11 with a team-high nine rebounds, while Donald Sloan had a team-high five assists.
After the game the message was also familiar.
“It gets frustrating,” Young said. “You just have to keep pushing, continuing to play and try to take positives from these games. We’re still playing hard.”
The Nets head to Detroit for a Saturday night date with the Pistons. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.
