The Nets lost a game of basketball to the Pistons, 90-89

D+

Final: 03/30/2017

L 89 90

If you missed tonight’s Nets game, you’ll be fine. In a pretty brutal battle of offensive ineptitude, the Nets lost to the Pistons 90-89 at the Palace.

What was most frustrating about this one was that it was a game you’d love to have won if you are Brooklyn. Two teams playing lousily, and the Nets proved they could hang in a game with their best offensive player laying more bricks than SAM, the bricklaying robot.

Despite a low scoring effort for 48 minutes by both teams, the Nets kept themselves in range. And then Brook Lopez finally woke up in the fourth quarter and hit two completely absurd threes to tie the game. That was really fun until it wasn’t because he was off the mark on a deep go-ahead shot from beyond the arc with under a minute to go. This was the second-most Nets-y play of the game. The first was with four seconds left when Jeremy Lin fumbled the inbounds pass on the team’s last possession. They didn’t win after that.

I really wish the Nets won this game. When you are a young team, these are just nice games to be on the right side of. But alas. The last few weeks have been strangely fun for the Nets. It looks like we are finally seeing a few rays of sunshine on this young, disorganized roster. But if you were looking to this game to see some more of that, you were probably disappointed. Oh well. On to the next one.

Caris LeVert

C

The stats: 7 PTS, 3-9 FG, 7 REB, 4 AST

Man, this game started out with so much promise for Caris LeVert. In the first quarter, he scored seven very quick points, and I thought he was about to unleash. He didn’t make another shot. That was a bummer. LeVert rarely disappears when he’s on the court, though, so for that, I’ll give him a higher grade than his numbers indicate.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

B-

The stats: 14 PTS, 6-14 FG, 9 REB, 1 AST

Rondae was one of the few guys whose shot was falling… and he scored 14. This was the state of the Nets’ offense tonight.

Brook Lopez

B-

The stats: 11 PTS, 4-17 FG, 9 REB, 2 ASTS

I gave Brook Lopez a bad game grade and then he stepped into a phone booth, became Klay Thompson, and hit crucial back to back three-pointers in the last two minutes. He missed the go-ahead three at the end, but watching Brook pump fake and hit that step back was amazing and hilarious. So, for that, I’m sorry, my friend, for making assumptions.

(But in all seriousness, for 28 of his 31 minutes, he was pretty bad.)

Spencer Dinwiddie

B

The stats: 11 PTS, 4-7 FG, 3 REB, 2 AST

An efficient night of scoring, but his big play of the night came in the fourth quarter off a fast break QB-style pass from Brook Lopez to put the Nets within two. How great those moments would have been if Brooklyn had won, and how meaningless they seem knowing they didn’t.