The Brooklyn Nets played a special basketball game on Thursday night.
Barclays Center was rocking — albeit for the visiting team led by Steph Curry, but rocking nonetheless. Brooklyn raced out to a 20-point lead against a Warriors team likely hungover from Draymond Green’s birthday party, and kept their composure when Golden State inevitably fought back. The game went down to the final possessions, as Brooklyn proved themselves a worthy foil in an electric environment.
Saturday night was going to be much different. The Charlotte Hornets not only do not have Steph Curry, they would also be without LaMelo Ball, injured once again. Also, they absolutely stink.
After starting the season 6-9, Charlotte steadily lost rotation players to injury, and are since 8-39. Their best player is Miles Bridges, though he is often outplayed by the very active Moussa Diabaté at center. It remains a miracle that rookie Tidjane Salaun was drafted with the sixth overall pick. It hurts to watch Taj Gibson come off the bench for this team.
So, it was unsurprising to see Brooklyn lead 58-43 at halftime. Not when Charlotte shot like this...
Though Noah Clowney and his healed ankle returned from a 16-game absence on Saturday, the sophomore didn’t contribute to Brooklyn’s offensive output (0-of-5).
Instead, the D’Angelo Russell-Cam Thomas backcourt led the way, combining for 24 points in the first half, culminating with a classic D’Lo moon-ball...
Jordi Fernández was complimentary (in typically cut-and-dry fashion) of his starting point guard postgame: “He’s a really good ball-handler, he can play pick and roll, he can score, shoot the three. So I thought he did a great job.”
The Nets didn’t light Spectrum Center on fire, but a couple of makes and a low turnover count were enough to outdo the hosts. Ziaire Williams scored 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, Trendon Watford put up a dozen, and Jalen Wilson and Tyrese Martin each chipped in seven off the bench.
It was a very typical Nets game, enough to increase the lead to 17 points midway through the third quarter.
Then, the energy shifted. Charlotte went 6-of-8 from deep in the frame, but more importantly, out-hustled their guests. Despite their stretch of defensive excellence, Brooklyn’s quietly been the fourth-worst defensive rebounding team in the league since the calendar flipped to 2025.
Wasn’t so quiet on Saturday evening, with Charlotte scoring 14 second-chance points in the second half, led by Diabaté’s efforts. Miles Bridges as a the featured playmaker was often as ugly as you’d expect, but he did just enough pace-pushing and driving to lead a competent offense in the second half. And that was enough for Brooklyn to fold.
Well, everybody outside of D’Angelo Russell. Russell scored 15 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, heat-checking from three and cashing them...
Russell saved the Nets from a slip-up, it seemed, as he checked out of the game midway through the fourth as part of his normal substitution pattern. Brooklyn up nine.
When he checked back in with 2:45 to play, the lead was just one possession. And it only got worse from there, Spectrum Center suddenly lively and seemingly tilted toward Charlotte’s basket.
“I thought that it was a disengagement ... We were lazy. We didn’t touch the paint enough time, our spacing was poor, and you know, we score 44 points in the second half after almost scoring 60 in the first. It’s hard to win in the NBA like this.
Down the stretch, everything went the hosts’ way, including Cam Thomas’ decision-making. Despite his strong first half, Thomas finished shooting 7-of-18 to score 16 points, with the Hornets apparently missing this memo...
Cam Thomas on whether he's changed his approach the last two games to average 6.5 assists:
“Nah, I’ve been doing that. They’re just making it. That’s how assists are. I pass it and my teammates gotta make it, and they’re making it, so it goes on the stat sheet as an assist." pic.twitter.com/tFcLs0Lskx
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) March 7, 2025
Every time Thomas dribbled in the second half, two or three Hornets swarmed him, and he couldn’t make them pay. Trailing by one with 35 seconds left, Thomas took a side-step 25-footer in transition, a disappointing look but perhaps defensible in the name of going 2-for-1.
Brooklyn got the stop they needed, then on the next play, Thomas was blocked by Bridges....
A fantastic play by Bridges, and revealing of the shortcomings Thomas still has in his game. When he puts his head down, the ball is going up, no matter what. Whether he didn’t see Bridges’ late rotation off Watford or the chance to lob it to Nic Claxton, or if he just wasn't interested in making the play, the result remains.
After two freebies, Trendon Watford took a 40-footer to push the game to overtime, and his valiant attempt hit back rim. Yikes.
“They wanted it more than us. And when that happens, usually the basketball gods help you. That’s what happened tonight.” — Jordi Fernández
Final Score: Charlotte Hornets 105, Brooklyn Nets 102