The Brooklyn Nets lost their fifth of six games tonight away visiting the Denver Nuggets behind a career night from Nikola Jokic.
- Brooklyn Nets (4-7)
- Denver Nuggets (6-5)
- Pepsi Center: Denver, Colorado
- NBA, Final Box Score
It was the second night of a back-to-back for the Brooklyn Nets, and the entire Pepsi Center was well aware.
Denver forward Nikola Jokic bullied them down low, posting a career-high 41 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
Center Tyler Zeller was the only conscious player offensively for the Nets tonight. He scored a team-high 21 points.
Point guard D’Angelo Russell was held to 12 points, and dropped a season-high 8 turnovers along the way.
It’s the second time he’s been held to 12 or fewer points this season. The last? October 29th, when Brooklyn lost to Denver at home.
Guard Caris LeVert added 13 points and 2 blocks off the bench.
For the Nuggets, forward Paul Millsap tallied 17 points, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Including this one over Russell down the lane.
Forward Will Barton boosted the Denver bench with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
After falling down only 13 at the half, the Nets were staring at a 25-point deficit as early as halfway through the third quarter. They posted 22 turnovers on the evening, as Russell led the way with 8 individually. It was sloppy, nearly effortless basketball.
They ended a four-game losing streak in a win over Phoenix last night, but even then, did not look in tune offensively. That showed again tonight, and more so, as the bench outscored the starters 64-40.
Guard Allen Crabbe continues to be dramatically inconsistent, after scoring 3 points on 1-8 shooting from the field. He was brought in over the summer as a bench scorer, who has failed to do just that through 11 games in a Nets uniform.
It’s worth mentioning the pre-existent weakness down the post, which was certainly worse with Jarrett Allen (foot), Trevor Booker (back), and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (hip), all out with injury. Three bigs who would have all seen time guarding Jokic at some point.
After looking like a brand new team over the first five of the year, Brooklyn has fallen into a funk consisting of no defense and some sloppy offense.
They’ll get another chance to prove they can get back to being that team come Friday, away facing the Portland Trailblazers. Tip-off is at 10:00 PM EST.