After two wins in a row, the Nets returned to their tanking form.
Brooklyn got throttled 138-100 at home by the visiting Pistons before a sellout crowd of 17,548 at Barclays Center.
The Nets had pulled off the fifth-biggest comeback in team history Sunday, rallying from 23 points down to win in Detroit.
Then they started a fairly strong, big lineup in Monday’s Pyrrhic victory over a shamelessly-tanking Memphis team that fielded just eight players.
On Tuesday, Brooklyn played without Egor Demin, Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams. The Nets played their starters for limited minutes.
And they got blown out, trailing by as much as 43 and never having a chance.
The Nets fell to 17-48, and are fourth in the lottery standings, keeping pace ½ game behind third-place Washington.
The Wizards took tanking to an entirely new level, as they let Bam Adebayo light them up for 83 points. But Brooklyn at least helped itself in the tanking race.
Brooklyn temporarily moved two games behind Sacramento and 1 ½ behind Indiana.
The Kings and visiting Pacers faced off against each other Tuesday night in California.
Nets starters Nic Claxton and Nolan Traore combined for just four points on 1-of-8 shooting.
They coughed up 56.5 percent shooting and 16-of-32 from 3-point range, getting torn up defensively.
Demin was out, shelved for the season with plantar fasciitis. Sharpe was out with a sprained left thumb, and Ziaire Williams was sidelined with an illness.
Fernandez offered no timeline for Sharpe to return.
But Michael Porter Jr. was back in the starting lineup after having been rested the night prior against the Grizzlies. He finished with a team-high 19 points.
Danny Wolf had 13 points and over the past couple of weeks is finally starting to find some consistency for the Nets. What’s been the key?
For coach Jordi Fernandez, the answer is simple: Effort.
“He’s trying,” Fernandez shrugged. “And when you try really hard, your intentions are good, not all the times you get the results that you want, but you’re going to get there at some point because you’re trying to do the right thing. So, like everything else in life, and anything you’re doing…you have to understand what we’re trying to do and why you want to do it that way and what you want to accomplish.
“He’s done a great job, when you go from his playmaking efficiency – which in college didn’t show he was a good passer, not an efficient playmaker – and now he’s at a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. And everything else, his shot chart, the amount of 3s, his intention is to listen. He works with Dutch [Gaitley]…that’s a smart kid. He understands the purpose, and you can see the positive steps. You want it to be super efficient but that usually doesn’t happen right away. But I’m very happy [with] his focus. Trying really hard is the No. 1 thing.”
