SALT LAKE CITY — We may lose the battle, but we win the war.
More pertinently, even if you lose on the scoreboard, you gain in the lottery standings.
Don't get me wrong, the underdog Nets played hard and scored 18,175 points in a 112-111 overtime loss to the similarly short-handed Jazz at Delta Center on Sunday. is. they played to win. But Nets fans can take solace in the fact that they didn't.
Nic Claxton took the lead in overtime for the Nets, but Collin Sexton hit a 3-pointer. Then, after Tyrese Martin missed both at the charity stripe with 3:30 left, Sexton made an easy layup to make it 107-104 with less than three minutes left.
Ben Simmons hit a hook shot and Tothan Ebbuomwan hit a jumper. But Brooklyn lost 110-108 with 1:48 of overtime on Bruce Sensabaugh's 3-pointer.
Ebbu-om-One only made 1 of 2 from the line, but the Nets grabbed not one, not two, but three offensive rebounds. They couldn't capitalize and committed a shot clock violation with 36 seconds left in OT.
After Claxton stole the ball from Isaiah Collier, Ebbw Omwan drove in with 6.4 seconds left and fouled Collier. This time, he sank the first run and tied it, then calmly scored the second run to take a 111-110 lead.
But the Nets couldn't contain it.
With 2.4 seconds left, Collier hit a free driving layup that was the winner.
But this loss may not be so painful.
Brooklyn (13-26) committed to improving through the draft, acquiring four first-round picks in June. And, before trading away Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith, they were sitting 15th in the draft order a month ago, but entered Sunday having dropped seven of their past eight games and were in the lottery standings. He moved up to tie for 6th place.
The Nets tied with visiting Portland on Tuesday. And they are 3 1/2 games behind the No. 5 Jazz, meaning Sunday's game was a lottery pick.
“That's the nature of the NBA,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “We’re in the middle of the season, so injuries are going to come up, so you know a lot of times it’s not about the other team, it’s about you, so let’s control what we can control.
“We have to focus on doing better than the last game and keep fighting until the fourth quarter and focus on ourselves. So it's a good challenge.”
Brooklyn also lost its most recent matchup against the Jazz on Dec. 21 at Barclays Center. They suffered a 2-10 losing streak and fell in the Eastern Conference standings, but moved up the lottery ladder.
Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler, who combined for 40 points and 17 rebounds in Utah's last game, both sat out the game against the Nets. It didn't matter.
Not only was Brooklyn without Cam Thomas, but they were also without Cam Johnson and D'Angelo Russell.
As expected, the attack was difficult.
In their loss to Denver two nights ago, the Nets were going 9-of-11 on every fast break they made, and an abysmal 36.7 percent on their misses.
Sunday, they had to rely on recently signed two-way players Ebbu Omwan (team-high 22 points) and Williams (19 points) to carry the scoring load.
Ben Simmons had 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds in his second game back.
Martin's dunk gave the Nets a 70-67 lead with four minutes left in the quarter. But there they lost control of the game.
Brooklyn gave up a 15-4 run over the next two minutes.
Collier's dunk put them down 82-74 with 1:32 left.
Trailing 102-96 with two minutes left after Sexton's free throw, the Nets finished the game with six unanswered points. After Simmons rebounded a Collier miss, Williams tied it at the line with 1:01 left in regulation.
Claxton couldn't muster an alley-oop dunk attempt with seconds left after Martin did a great job of beating his man and drawing the defense. Utah got its last try with 1.7 seconds left, but Sensabaugh missed it, sending the game into overtime.
The Nets lost there.
