What a week it was for Jordi Fernandez. Injuries began to pile up on Sunday in Sacramento, but his group remained confident in the healthy players it did have. Brooklyn responded with three straight victories over the Kings, Warriors and Suns to end their latest West Coast swing on a shockingly high note.
While the season is still young, an argument can be made that no head coach in the NBA has done more with less this season. The first-year head coach has exceeded all expectations despite Brooklyn’s flawed situation. As the kids say, he has been deep in his bag, and each player on the roster has benefited from his leadership.
However, the Nets‘ shorthanded sorcery was nullified in Friday’s 123-100 loss to the Orlando Magic at Barclays Center. Brooklyn played without two of its primary creators in Cam Thomas and Dennis Schröder. While Orlando did not have the luxury of a healthy Paolo Banchero, their superior depth shined through.
One of the Nets’ worst losses of the season came at the hands of this same Magic team on Oct. 25, 116-101.
Not having Thomas or Schröder in the lineup did not appear to be an issue early on. Jalen Wilson, in his third start of the season, started 3-of-3 from 3-point range. The Net started 5-for-7 from deep as a team, scoring was balanced across the board, and despite 13 first-quarter points from Orlando’s Franz Wagner, they trailed by only four points entering the second and were shooting 63.2% from the field. Ball movement and unselfish play continued to uplift them even though their talent was lacking.
The game was tied at 48 with 3:11 left in the first half, and that is when the Nets suffered their first major cold streak on offense, and it gave the Magic separation that it never relinquished. Orlando knocked down three 3-pointers in about two minutes, with a layup and a dunk mixed in, and suddenly Brooklyn found itself down 15 points with 53.4 seconds left in the second quarter. It trailed 61-49 at halftime.
Orlando opened the third quarter on a 13-5 run while shooting 4of-5 from 3 to open up a 20-point lead. It was a 25-point game entering the final frame, and there would be no frantic comeback this time, even though Fernandez’s group continued to fight until the end.
The Nets committed 20 turnovers, which gifted Orlando 34 points.
Shake Milton, who played 34 minutes with Thomas and Schröder out, scored a season-high 22 points off the bench with four assists. Keon Johnson added 15 points. Brooklyn used a different starting lineup for the sixth straight game on Friday and Tyrese Martin was part of the latest configuration. He finished with eight points on 3-of-6 after pouring in 30 points against Phoenix on Wednesday.
Wagner led Orlando with 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
The Nets saw their season-best three-game win streak snapped with the loss and fell to 9-11. The Magic notched win No. 14 and extended their current win streak to four games. Friday was also Brooklyn’s final Emirates NBA Cup game this season. It was mathematically eliminated from advancing to the knock-out rounds, finishing with a 1-3 record in East Group A.
The Nets will not have to wait long for a shot at revenge. They will face the Magic again at Barclays Center on Sunday in the first game of a home-road back-to-back set.
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