A poor defensive fourth quarter by the Nets on Wednesday seemingly bled into Friday’s 121-102 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at Barclays Center, spoiling Cam Thomas’ long-awaited return to the court.
Portland, which entered the night on a three-game win streak, went 10-for-10 from the field in the opening minutes. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez clearly unhappy with his team’s defensive effort. He called multiple early timeouts to try and stop the bleeding, but to no avail.
The Trail Blazers didn’t miss their first shot until the 3:53 mark in the first quarter. Third-year standout Shaedon Sharpe started 7-for-7 from the field and didn’t miss his first shot until there was 4:14 left in the first half.
The Nets shot 45.2% in the first half, which isn’t awful. But they went 3-for-13 from 3-point range, allowed Portland to shoot 64.1% and gave up 10 treys. That, plus 13 turnovers, added up to a 64-47 halftime deficit for Brooklyn.
Brooklyn won the third quarter 35-27 and ended the period on an 8-0 run behind somewhat better defense and balanced scoring from Thomas, Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton, plus 15 points from its bench. It was only a nine-point game entering the final frame. The game was still within reach.
However, a 20-6 Portland run to start the fourth quarter quickly put any comeback hopes to bed.
The Nets, who fell to 21-38 this season, finished with a season-high-tying 22 turnovers in the loss. They remain in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Thomas finished with 16 points on 7-for-17 shooting, one assist and three turnovers in 21 minutes. Claxton added 16 points, five rebounds and three assists in his return from a one-game suspension. Day’Ron Sharpe, coming off a monster performance starting in place of Claxton on Wednesday, had six points and seven rebounds in his return to the bench.
Shaedon Sharpe paced Portland with 25 points, four rebounds and five assists.
The Nets will return to action on Saturday against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.