The Nets’ most impressive win of the entire season came in a Jazz beating right after the New Year. Wednesday’s shorthanded rematch in Utah was just as unbalanced as it was tilted the other way.
James Harden’s neck injury left all of the Big 3 off the pitch for the first time, and the result was just as bad as expected. The Nets were defeated by 118 to 88 by the NBA leader, Jazz, in front of a crowd of 5,546 in the Vivint Arena.
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Landry Shamet and Blake Griffin were already out, and Harden’s loss left Brooklyn decimated. Utah (32-11) did the rest, leading by up to 38 points and beating what was left of the Nets.
It was the Nets’ lowest score of the season, and they became the last team this year to suffer a defeat by at least 20.
“Yes, we didn’t take any of that, losing our top three players, losing Blake,” said Steve Nash. “As soon as the game started earlier, we were able to rest some of our other rotation guys.
“So we don’t take anything away from this game, except for the opportunity for young people to develop and play and have an opportunity. So, let’s head to Detroit and hopefully have some guys back to play. “
There was nothing for Nash and his Nets to do with it except to be philosophical, to release everything and move on to Friday’s game in Detroit.
With only 10 active players – some of whom had literally just met – the Nets hit just 36.1 percent, and 7 out of 35 in the 3-point range. In fact, they were led by newly hired G Leaguer Alize Johnson, who just arrived on Tuesday night and went over some basic things early in the game.
Johnson’s leading the Nets in scoring (23 points) and rebounds (15) was both a testament to him and an indicator of how the night went.
“Only [want to] prove to everyone that I belong here in the NBA, and I worked hard and I’ll just continue to work and be the best player I can be, “said Johnson, who received advice from Nash and Harden.
“Going out and playing hard and just having fun. Hearing that from these two guys makes you confident to play. “
Donovan Mitchell had 27 points in 27 minutes for Utah, who won their 17th consecutive home win.
“It’s a great team, the team with the best league history,” said Nash. “We were very insufficient there and, most importantly, we stayed together, we played hard, defensively we were very good – maybe we gave up a lot of 3s, but otherwise we did a lot of good things defensively. I just told them that I was proud of them. “
The Nets were left behind by 16-4 early on, and lost by 21 after a first quarter.
The thing got out of hand so quickly that Nash gave Joe Harris just 4:57 before deciding to take a break for the end of the trip to Detroit on Friday. The defeat left the Nets two games behind the 76ers for first place in the East.
The Nets (30-15) had trained Utah 130-96 in their January 5 clash, but this time, Jazz seemed to be part of the best team in the league.
The Nets had more of the G League vibe, with rookie Reggie Perry scoring 12 points and eight bags in his first NBA appearance since January 31.
“It is enough to work hard all the time in the [G League] bubble and all the time after I got back, ”said Perry. “It was really good to get into a game and see that the work paid off a little bit, to really start running.”
Georges Niang, from Utah, closed the first quarter with a 3 to put Jazz in the 38-17 lead. Brooklyn forced nine consecutive fouls to reach 40-28 in the middle of the second, but an 18-4 run crowned by Royce O’Neale 3 left them with the 58-32 hole.
The Nets lost 63-38 in the interval, half with the lowest score of the season. A 15-2 Jazz race to open the third widened the gap to 78-40 in a Mitchell 3.