It was nearly a perfect storm for the Nets in their season opener against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.
Jordi Fernandez’s team played hard from start to finish. Cam Thomas was the best offensive player on the court. Brooklyn’s trio of young forwards — Jalen Wilson, Noah Clowney and Ziaire Williams — looked great off the bench. And Nic Claxton, Brooklyn’s starting center, returned to the court after missing the entire preseason and was productive in limited minutes. He was solid in his 2024-25 debut, finishing with seven points, five rebounds, one steal and one block.
“It was fun,” Claxton said. “There’s a lot of new energy out there. Everybody’s learning. I’m learning. I missed a lot of training camp, preseason, so I’m trying to learn the schemes and everything, so it’s a work in progress.”
However, in the Nets’ 120-116 loss, his actions down the stretch gave Atlanta the edge it needed to emerge victorious at State Farm Stadium. Brooklyn was trailing by five points with 8:03 left when Claxton clotheslined Dyson Daniels at the rim in transition.
Not only was it a heinous act on Claxton’s part, but it gave the Hawks the motivation they needed to create separation late. They responded with a 13-1 run and went up 102-92 with 6:46 left. Claxton was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game.
The 25-year-old understood how foolish his actions were. He held himself accountable when speaking to reporters in the locker room after the game.
“Just having more situational awareness,” Claxton said. “Maybe I need to talk to a therapist or something. I can’t get kicked out of games. Whatever I do I can’t get kicked out of games. I need to be there for my team. I know I was on a [minutes] restriction, but I still need to be there for my team.”
Claxton was not the only Net who played a little too physically. Seconds later, Thomas got into a minor scuffle with Onyeka Okongwu, who was defending his teammate De’Andre Hunter after an eerily similar play. The Hawks shot 46 free throws on Wednesday. While Fernandez was happy with his team’s physically, he knows his players need to be much smarter in how they guard going forward.
“Our technique has to be better,” Fernandez said. “We have to lead with our chest and show our hands. They shot 21 more free throws.”
Said Claxton: “We just have to calm our physicality down a little bit. In training camp, we were physical and that’s how we kind of want to play, but we have to be a lot smarter. Forty-six fouls is crazy, so we all have to be smarter, including myself.”
