The Brooklyn Nets hung with the San Antonio Spurs for a half, but the Spurs pulled away in the second half, outlasting the Nets for a 106-79 win at Barclays Center.
The game started off close, with the Nets trailing 22-20 after the first quarter and 45-38 at the half. Much like their previous meeting in San Antonio (where the Nets led by five at halftime) the Spurs turned it on in the second half, outscoring the Nets 61-41.
“We gave ourselves a chance in the first half, we stayed within reach,” Interim Head Coach Tony Brown said. “In the second half they just hit the switch. We ran into a sledgehammer of a team. They know how to play together and that’s something we are striving to try to do here. We just have to keep working at it. We have a lot of games left to do it.”
Brown took over the bench after a front office change was made on Sunday morning.
“That’s obviously a tough matchup to start out,” Brown said. “San Antonio is the gold standard for the NBA.”
LaMarcus Aldridge was a force Monday, scoring 25 with 11 rebounds in 28 minutes. Aldridge led the Spurs in each of the first three quarters, scoring 10 in the first, six in the second and seven in the third. He played a minute in the fourth capping off his night with one last field goal.
“Aldridge is huge for that team, he’s like a younger Dirk [Nowitzki], he’s able to make shots off both shoulders and can post guys up,” Thaddeus Young, who finished with nine points and nine boards. “Tonight he made three or four jumpers, fadeaway, hard shots. I was just like, what can you do? Sometimes it happens that way, you have to try to play through it and make him see different things.”
Brook Lopez was the Nets early answer to Aldridge, as Lopez scored 14 points in the first half shooting 6-of-12. Lopez finished with a team-high 18 points, along with five boards.
Joe Johnson was the Nets top scorer in the second half, racking up 9 of his 16 points. Johnson was the Nets most efficient shooter, hitting his first six – including a pair of three-pointers – while racking up 16 points. Johnson didn’t miss a shot until the fourth quarter.
Kawhi Leonard finished with 17 points for the Spurs.
In Brown’s introductory and pre-game press conferences, the interim coach said his plan was to evaluate the talent on the Nets roster and see what rotations would work the best together. He made changes right from the get-go, giving Donald Sloan his first start of the season and playing all 12 available players.
Lopez played a game-high 31:53, while 10 of the Nets 12 players played double-digit minutes.
The Nets look to get back on track on Wednesday night when they host the New York Knicks. Tip is at 7:30 p.m.
