The NBA’s most potent defense was no match for history’s greatest shooter.
The Nets saw their best three-game winning streak of the season snapped by Steph Curry and his Warriors, who were defeated 120-107 in front of a sellout crowd of 18,163 at Barclays Center.
The Nets (10-20) had rode length and youth to the league’s best defense over the past month, winning in seven of their previous 10. But against veteran playoff winners like Curry and Jimmy Butler, slick off-ball plays and more than a little brute force, the Nets’ inexperience proved costly.
“This is disappointing because there are things you can control, and it’s your energy … how you talk to teammates, and [there was] sometimes frustration. We dropped our shoulders too much,” Nets coach Jordi Fernández said. “We just have to be better, and that was reflected in our defense, with our attention to detail, in our activity.
“Ultimately, that wasn’t a good defensive team. It wasn’t a cohesive group, and it wasn’t a group that built trust through communication. It wasn’t a group that showed multiple efforts, and that’s why this was the worst defensive game of the month of December.”
The Nets had the league’s best scoring defense this month, but saw their streak of five straight foes under 108 points — the second-best in the NBA this season — end. Curry had 27 points, including a personal 10-2 run in the third that put Golden State ahead for good.
Jimmy Butler added 21 points as the young Nets sent Golden State on a parade to the charity stripe, finishing 28-for-34 from the line.
“They shot way too many free throws, offensive rebounds and just too many mistakes on defense,” said Nic Claxton, who had 15 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks.
“It’s hard. … They also do a lot of name-calling. It’s hard because they’re good at calling for mistakes. They’re vets. So it was just the little things. … We just didn’t execute enough.”
Michael Porter Jr. had 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists and went 5-for-9 from behind the arc. Egor Dëmin scored 23 on a career-high 7-for-14 from deep, a Nets rookie record and the most of any rookie this season.
But Dëmin struggled in the fourth — 2-for-7 with two turnovers as Brooklyn was outscored 31-22 — and will consider this a learning opportunity.
“Every match is an experience for me,” said Dëmin. “So I try to take them all under my belt… and especially against teams like this, where I can not only play against them, but also learn from them. Even a lost match like this can have an impact and be useful for me in the future and for us as a team. So it’s very important.”
The Nets are three games out of the last play-in spot. They are sixth in the lottery standings, percentage points ahead of Charlotte, but within half a game of the Clippers.
Brooklyn led by 13 early and led 28-15 after a bucket by Claxton.
It was still 69-64 before they got an apparent break. They had contained Curry to that point, going just 2-for-7 from deep. Then Terance Mann fouled him with what the Warriors star thought was a 20-footer, but the play was called across the floor.
An excited Curry personally defeated Brooklyn 10-2, capping the point with a step back 3 while waving and barking. The Nets trailed 74-71 with 5:13 left in the third and 89-85 in the fourth.
It swelled to 97-88. A Dëmin 3 capped a 7-1 run, tying the score at three with 7:30 to go, but that was as close as they got.
The Nets saw the score rise to 12 with 4:37 to play before ripping off eight unanswered to make it 107-103 on a pair of free throws from Mann.
But on the next possession, Curry drew an and-one against Claxton, essentially sealing the score.
“A different style of attack. We haven’t really seen it yet, a lot of off-ball movement, so we’re just not familiar with their offense as a team,” Porter said. “We have to perform better than the fourth. I probably have to try to be a little more aggressive offensively in the fourth quarter as well.”
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