Nets finally get second win with blowout over lowly Wizards…
WASHINGTON — The Nets picked up their second win of the season Sunday.
Were their victories Pyrrhic, or have been they progress?
Brooklyn routed Washington 129-106 before a small gathering at CapitalOne Arena, listed as 14,164 however showing about half that dimension. They got here out on a soccer Sunday to observe a pair of groups tanking for lottery positioning, and the Nets lose by profitable.
The blowout noticed the Nets enhance to 2-11, the third-worst document in the league — and thus, third seed in the lottery. Both wins got here against the two groups “ahead” of them, with the Wizards and Pacers each a league-worst 1-12.
Michael Porter Jr. #17 of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket during the game against the Washington Wizards on Nov. 16, 2025. NBAE through Getty Images
And while Washington dropped its eleventh straight game, the Nets have received two of their last six, main by as many as 24 factors and exhibiting enchancment on the glass and on protection.
“We’re trying to get one percent better,” Nets coach Jordi Fernández said. “We attempt to challenge our guys to play the proper method. We had a few games the place we confirmed indicators of constant competitiveness, and then we had a extremely poor game, and now we’re again to 2 games of being fairly competitive. Now we need to present the third one.
“When you’re trying to achieve the things you believe are the right things in style of play, that’s when you start seeing the outcome. And not just the outcome; it’s the development. It’s all together, if you think about it. So I don’t think it’s a battle of (standings); we care about ourselves. We want our players to get better one through 17. The growth of the coaching staff and the organization, that’s our vision.”
Brooklyn has displayed progress, even despite the loss of main scorer Cam Thomas.
Fernández challenged Michael Porter Jr. to chop and transfer and quit himself to assist his teammates. The veteran had a game-high 33 factors, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, ending a plus-16.
The Nets have struggled on protection and the boards, their common of 26.7 defensive rebounds coming into Sunday the worst since 1998-99, according to Elias. Their 62.5 defensive rebound share was the third-worst in recorded league historical past, and worst since the 1997-98 Raptors. But they received that battle against Washington.
Brooklyn received the glass 44-33, and the defensive boards 37-30. And it held the woebegone Wizards to just 44 p.c capturing, blocking eight photographs.
And after Alex Sarr got here in averaging 19.1 factors and eight.6 rebounds, they held last 12 months’s No. 2 draft decide to just 9 factors and three boards before fouling out. Nic Claxton took up the challenge and had 17 factors, 9 boards, seven assists and 4 blocks as the Nets had an all-around performance.
“It goes back to our staples, and everything we do to measure them,” Fernández said. “And no matter the end result is, if we maintain those issues — our ball stress, our communication, our a number of efforts, our pace-and-space, and our paint touches and our ball rotation — if we accomplish all that, it’s going to work out.
Nic Claxton #33 of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket during the game against the Washington Wizards on Nov. 16, 2025. NBAE through Getty Images
“It may not be (Sunday). If we do all those things very well…if we keep doing it, we’re going to see it. And we’re not obsessed with scoring more points than the other team. We’re obsessed with playing consistently the right way and playing a good brand of basketball.”
Tyrese Martin had 20 factors for Brooklyn and completed plus-26.
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