The Nets are heading to Paris with a bad taste in their mouths, salty after blowing multiple leads in a 134-127 overtime loss to Portland before a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center on Sunday.
And they have nobody to blame but themselves, squandering a huge performance from Mikal Bridges to fall for the 11th time in their last 14 games.
And Sunday’s was a defeat that clearly should’ve been a victory.
“Very [frustrating],” said Cam Johnson. “We definitely should have won. It’s frustrating.”
The Nets led by eight in the fourth quarter and half as much in overtime.
This against Portland (10-21), who’d been the worst shooting team in the league and was missing Deandre Ayton.
Mikal Bridges scored a game-high 42 points, and he tied the game with 1.5 seconds left in regulation. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
Shaedon Sharpe had 21 points off the bench for the Trail Blazers in their overtime win against the Nets. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConApparently none of that mattered.
After Bridges — who had a game-high 42 points, including the tying basket with 1.5 seconds left in regulation — put Brooklyn ahead 121-117 with 3:24 left in overtime, it promptly surrendered a 10-2 run.
It turned the Nets’ four-point lead into a 125-121 deficit with 1:26 remaining in OT, and they never recovered.
“We just finally got one and wanted to get a little streak going. We had an opportunity at home against a team coming on a road trip, so yeah, it sucks,” said Bridges. “You just want to win this one bad. But … just trying to get a streak going. But we’ve got another game coming up, just got to go get that one.”
The Nets (16-25) play in Paris on Thursday against Cleveland and will have to stew on this one until then, pondering the error of their ways.
And there were plenty of errors, particularly on the defensive end.
After playing solid defense in regulation to hold Portland to .443 shooting, they let the Trail Blazers hit 6 of 7 in overtime.
“Just wasn’t getting stops, that’s what it came down to,” said Bridges. “Just not getting stops, had a turnover in there. Just not getting stops.”
Portland’s Anfernee Simons had six of his team-high 38 in overtime, and Malcolm Brogdon had eight of his 18 in the extra stanza, Brooklyn defenders unable to keep either player in front of them.
“Yeah, very disappointing overall to not win this basketball game. Extremely disappointing,” said a clearly vexed Jacque Vaughn.
“More disappointed in the amount of possessions we gave away, whether we were up seven in the first quarter and the second quarter and we give away possessions by being cute and not being simple. Those possessions get you a two-point lead at halftime instead of a 12-point lead, and that’s why we got a ballgame.”
It was a ballgame the Nets could’ve won.
Cam Thomas and the Nets lost for the 11th time in 14 games. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConJohnson had 17 points, while Nic Claxton added 16 with 11 rebounds and four blocks.
But Cam Thomas had just nine in a modest 17:53 of playing time, while Dennis Smith Jr. was minus-19 despite a double-double (10 points, 10 assists).
Backup center Day’Ron Shape — who left the game with a sprained knee — spotted the Nets an early 28-19 lead in the first quarter.
Bridges padded the cushion to double figures, 82-72, on a 3-pointer.
Still cruising along with a 95-88 edge on a Sharpe layup, Brooklyn watched Portland go on a 20-6 run.
The Trail Blazers held off the Nets in overtime behind 38 points from Anfernee Simons (l.). APAfter Dorian Finney-Smith got his layup attempt blocked by Jerami Grant (27 points), Simons drilled a 3-pointer on the other end that put the Nets in a 108-101 hole.
Brooklyn rallied, with Bridges hitting a tough midrange fadeaway with 1.5 seconds left in regulation.
That forced overtime, where the Nets took an early lead.
Bridges gave Brooklyn a 123-121 edge in the extra stanza, but it coughed it up.
Brodgon sandwiched 3-pointers around a Johnson miss.
Brogdon’s first gave Portland the lead for good at 124-123 with 2:02 left in overtime.
The second padded the lead to four.
After Bridges turned the ball over — a steal by Shaedon Sharpe (21 points) — the Portland guard hit a free throw to make it 128-123 with 1:14 left in overtime.
“Malcolm Brogdon,” Vaughn said succinctly when asked the trouble in overtime. “Six, seven, eight points at the rim, two 3s. Because Simon’s got it going early, we had to double-team him. That’s what happens when you give guys confidence and you have to react to them.”






