The short-handed Brooklyn Nets put together another valiant effort but ultimately came up short Sunday, falling to the Milwaukee Bucks by a score of 118-113. Without injured star Cam Thomas, the Nets continued to battle and had some impressive performances, and were leading with less than three minutes to go in the fourth quarter, before ultimately running out of gas.
Cameron Johnson continues his spectacular season
Johnson continued his campaign for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award with another standout performance. The 6-8 forward finished his night with 26 points on 9-16 shooting, 4-8 from downtown, and 4-4 from the charity stripe while also adding a block and a steal to his ledger.
The stellar performance has raised his season average to 18.8 points per game, and he’s been inching ever-closer to the magical 50/40/90 shooting split line, with a 48.8% field goal percentage, 43.4% three-point percentage, and 90.7% success rate from the line.
Johnson has been so good this season that he might be of more value to the Nets than on the trade market as they look to build up their culture and focus on player development in hopes of building long-term success. At 28 years old, he might have more value as a member of the Nets than whatever trade package they could swing for him at the deadline.
Dennis Schroder dazzles with a double-double
Schroder’s been asked to do so much for the Nets this season, and seemingly always answers the call. The 31-year-old point guard finished the night tied with Giannis for a game-high 34 points while also tallying 11 assists. As the only true point guard on the team, he’s been asked to do a lot to run the offense, and with Cam Thomas missing the last six contests he’s been tasked with taking on even more of the scoring load.
Shooting 13-19 overall and 4-7 from deep he was remarkably efficient against Milwaukee and has in many ways been the engine behind Brooklyn’s surprising success this season. If his value on the trade market is really only multiple second-round picks as some suggested, Brooklyn might be better served hanging on to one of the driving forces behind their cultural renaissance.
Nic Claxton turns in his best performance of the year
After agreeing to a $100 million extension over the summer, Claxton has had a frustrating season so far as a lingering back injury has caused him to miss time and significantly impacted his production. Against Milwaukee, however, the 25-year-old big looked like the exciting player who earned that big contract.
Claxton finished his night with a season-high 21 points while also tallying 10 rebounds, providing the presence on the boards the Nets have been lacking all year. More importantly, he was a terror on the defensive end recording three steals and two blocks while being a menace overall.
If Claxton can stay healthy, his incredibly defensive versatility adds a new dimension that the Nets would relish, while offensively he opens up the pick-and-roll attack that Jordi Fernandez loves to run. He’ll need to stay healthy, but Sunday’s game was a great preview of what he can provide.
The bench unit let the team down
As good as Brooklyn’s starters were, the bench unit provided no help while Milwaukee’s reserves lit the world on fire. Ben Simmons was held scoreless and didn’t attempt a field goal in his 18 minutes of action. The Nets’ high scorer of the bench was Shake Milton with just six points.
Milwaukee on the other hand, had a trio score in double-figures off the bench. Bobby Portis led the Milwaukee reserves with 23 points, Gary Trent Jr. was right behind him with 20, and Khris Middleton posted 11 while Milwaukee’s second unit outscored Brooklyn 60-17.
The Nets were without key reserves Ziaire Williams and Noah Clowney, but even so, the lack of a lead initiator on the second unit has been a season-long problem. This deficiency highlights the Nets’ roster imbalance issue in yet another way, as they have no one they can really stagger Dennis Schroder’s minutes with to ensure things keep running on schedule when the majority of the starters need a rest.
Against Milwaukee, the bench battle proved to be the difference.
Up Next for Brooklyn
Thanks to the Emirates NBA Cup the Nets get to enjoy a nice five-day rest between games, taking on the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, December 13th. Brooklyn has had Memphis’ number this year, going 2-0 in their previous two matchups with a 119-106 victory on October 30th and a 106-104 victory on November 4th.
Memphis is a much different team now than they were earlier in the season, and have gone 13-4 in the 17 games since those two early-season contests. This will be an exciting one to watch