MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tuesday, the Nets had built and blown a huge lead in a heartbreaker against the Nuggets. A night later in Memphis, they closed the deal.
The Nets defended their way to a two-touchdown cushion against the Grizzlies, and this time they held on for a 119-106 win before a crowd of 14,745 at FedEx Forum on Wednesday.
New Nets coach Jordi Fernandez has preached physical disruptive defense, albeit without the foul trouble that has plagued them early this season.
Perhaps his gamesmanship in the press made a difference, or perhaps his early technical for chastising the refs did. Either way, with the free-throw discrepancy nearly a wash (29 for the Grizzlies to the Nets’ 25) for the first time all season, Brooklyn picked up a huge road win.
Pressuring the ball, the Nets forced 22 turnovers for 31 points.
Dennis Schroder continued his white-hot streak with a game-high 33 points — his most as a Net — eight assists and 6-for-9 from deep. The guard became the first Net ever with 25 points, five assists and five 3s in three straight games.
But it was his stellar defense on Ja Morant that turned the game.
The Grizzlies star still flirted with a triple-double with 14 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, but Schroder and the Brooklyn defense held him largely in check on 5-for-16 shooting and just 1-for-6 from deep.
“He is very slippery,” Fernandez said of Morant, who had been questionable to play with a sore thigh. “Very slippery, and very fast. And again, we haven’t seen something like that yet. I mean, he’s very unique. It’s not like there’s two like him. So [Tuesday’s] challenge was very different than [Wednesday].
“And it’s very good for our group, because, again, game plan changes, because now is that type of player that is very fast and touches the paint a lot, that creates a lot, not just scoring, but also opportunities for his teammates. And we’ve, you know, we’ve talked about it, we’ve planned about it, and now we have to execute everything we’ve talked about. So, very good player, for sure.”
Exceptionally good. But the Nets had built a 17-point lead the night before against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the 2023 champion Nuggets, only to falter down the stretch and lose in overtime.
Wednesday, they closed the deal.
The Nets trailed 24-18 early, but closed the first quarter on a 16-5 run to take a 34-29 lead into the second.
Schroder — listed at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds — put his body on the line to take a charge on 7-1 Jay Huff.
The Nets started to clean up their foul issues a bit. After getting whistled for 10 in the first quarter alone, they committed just 15 the rest of the way.
Brooklyn fell asleep and gave Morant a layup to end the half. But the Nets went into the locker room up 67-62, and stormed out of the break by scoring the first eight points of the second half.
Dorian Finney-Smith’s driving reverse capped the run, and Schroder’s three free throws padded the cushion to 78-64 with 8:38 left in the third.
It didn’t last. The Nets saw that lead erased, with Jaren Jackson Jr.’s free throw knotting the game at 83-all with 2:39 left in the third.
With Brooklyn clinging to a 93-92 edge early in the fourth, Schroder hit a short jumper after the Grizzlies’ Jaylen Wells turned the ball over out of bounds. And Ziaire Williams notched his fourth steal of the game, passing to Schroder for a 3-pointer and a 98-92 lead with 10:14 to play.
A Schroder layup made it 103-95, and the Nets closed it out from there, even without starting center Nic Claxton.
“It’s basically all we have to be dealing with from the beginning, right? A lot of changes, different groups out there,” Fernandez said. “So, you may think that it’s hard, but I think that the challenge is good because our guys always find a way and find a way to compete. So [this was] another opportunity against a good team and very well coached.”
