A challenging six-game West Coast swing for the Nets culminated with a matchup against the Western Conference’s undisputed No. 1 seed at Paycom Center.
It went how you’d expect.
Brooklyn, to its credit, did not get embarrassed like it did against the Clippers earlier in the week. But Sunday’s 127-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder sure felt like it was trending in that direction early.
Oklahoma City, led by NBA MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, went up 13-2 just 3:52 in. The Nets opened 0-for-7 from the field, 0-for-5 from deep, and simply looked shaken in the opening minutes. They trailed 39-19 after one quarter. PTSD started kicking in at that point.
The Nets, to their credit, did not lie down. They matched the Thunder’s 30 points in the second quarter and narrowly lost the third 29-28. It was a 13-point game with 6:10 left in the third quarter. But Oklahoma City has been a well-oiled machine at both ends of the court for a while now, and Brooklyn didn’t have enough juice.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 27 points and 10 assists in a 8-for-14 shooting effort. Isaiah Joe went 8-for-10 from deep and Oklahoma City made 19 treys as a team.
Cam Johnson scored a team-high 15 points for the Nets in his return from a two-game absence. However, Brooklyn shot just 42.5% from the field, 27.9% from deep, and committed 17 turnovers, which gifted the Thunder 24 points.
The Nets fell to 14-29 with the loss. They end their road trip as losers of three straight. Their next four games will be at home, starting with Tuesday’s matchup against the Knicks.
Cam Thomas is expected to be re-evaluated sometime this week.