The Nets won Wednesday’s battle, but lost this season’s war.
Brooklyn defeated Indiana 115-111 in front of a capacity crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center, but the victory was Pyrrhic and officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Unofficially, it was coming a while ago.
A season filled with underachievement has landed Brooklyn (30-47) in this mess.
Atlanta’s win over the pitiful Pistons ended the Nets’ play-in hopes.
But any hope they have for their future beyond this disappointing season may rest in the young players who shone Wednesday night.
Cam Thomas, just 22 years old, led the scoring as usual with a team-high 27 points.
Nic Claxton, a 24-year-old from Brooklyn who decided to stay as a free agent this summer, had a double-double with 14 points, 13 boards and four blocks.
But the best prospect may have been teenage rookie Noah Clowney. Noah Clowney spent most of the season in the G League, but had a career-high performance on Wednesday with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 7-of-9 shooting and 3-of-4 from deep.
“I’m looking at you like I always say. [the Pacers] Even though we share the same blood, they wear shorts just like me. I mean, they’re a good team, but they’ve got to play with the same confidence that they’re playing here, that they’ve played within the G League,” Clowney said. “I don’t want to start playing shy and then trip over a mistake and make a bad play. I want to play with confidence.”
The Nets drafted the lanky Clowney in hopes of turning things around with Houston owning a first-round pick this June, and he’s shown some promise.
At 19 years, 264 days old, Clowney became the second-youngest Nets player to score 20 points, just seven days older than Cliff Robinson in 1979.
The Nets have won four of six games and are finally starting to show some defensive pride after being shattered by the Lakers and Pacers in the past two games.
“We’re just learning to go out and play with each other and get more time and minutes,” Mikal Bridges said. “Just because this season is over doesn’t mean there won’t be another season. So learn more about each other, get a good feel and be ready for next year.
“Just keep playing hard and learning, keep coming together, keep playing together and just try to find some ugly wins.”
They pulled off an ugly win, surviving Pascal Siakam’s 26 points and Tyrese Haliburton’s 24 points for the Pacers.
Although the Pacers lost 43-34, they are looking forward to the postseason.
Meanwhile, the Nets are looking forward to next season.
In fact, Brooklyn avoided its traditional slow start and jumped out early in this game, quickly taking an 11-4 lead.
This didn’t last long, as the Nets quickly went on a 25-4 run, but lost by two touchdowns.
But Clowney led the turnaround. The Nets, with the help of the lithe teenager, defeated Indiana 42-31 in the second quarter.
Clowney, drafted as a defender and rebounder, scored 14 points in the quarter on 5-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-3 from behind the arc.
It was an unlikely flash, considering he was just 4-of-16 from deep through his first 17 games.
Losing 63-61 in the third, Brooklyn was given nine shots without response.
Dennis Schroder (12 points, game-high 11 assists, six rebounds) hit a step-back 3 from Thomas, increasing the Nets’ cushion to 70-63.
Dorian Finney-Smith’s chip dunk with 4:27 left in the third set pushed it to 83-70. But Brooklyn didn’t make it easy.
The Nets immediately conceded a goal, 21-5, and fell behind by three points.
Then Siakam’s back-to-back baskets put Brooklyn in a 106-103 hole.
Siakam’s jumper with 1:41 left gave them a 108-105 lead.
But from there they turned the game around with a 7-0 run.
Bridges made a corner 3 off an offensive rebound to make it 108-all with 1:23 left.
Then, after a defensive stand-up, Schroder’s driving layup made it 110-108.
Clowney added two free throws to extend the lead to four points, and when Finney Smith took the ball from Obi Toppin with 26.6 seconds left, Bridges iced it.
But Atlanta’s victory made that moot.
“We all care about each other,” Bridges said. “But at the end of the day, you get paid to play 82 games, so no matter what the outcome is, you have to go out there and play hard every time. So that’s how I look at it.”
