Another day brings us closer to the end of the season.
Perhaps it’s the madness of March in the air, with potential franchise-saviors playing wall-to-wall on national television, as the Brooklyn Nets near their first lottery selection since Derrick Favors, but more likely, this is just a 23-48 season nearing completion.
The Dallas Mavericks were nearly guaranteed to hand Brooklyn their 49th loss of the season when the laughingstock of the 2024-25 NBA season announced Anthony Davis would be making his return from a six-week absence on Monday night. Why, who knows? According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, even Davis’ confidants have urged him not to return this season.
But hey, the Brooklyn Nets weren’t about to question it, not amid their intense tank-off with the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors.
Of course, that’s not how Head Coach Jordi Fernández viewed it pregame: “Obviously, with the return of a very special player, it’s good for us, good to figure out how to have different coverages executed and give ourselves a chance. We want to keep growing, we want to compete. We’ll go out there and fight against anybody and that’s the most important thing, from where we’re coming.”
Certainly, Brooklyn has been fighting. Though Fernández’s team is just 2-8 in their last ten games, all eight losses have been by single-digits. And in a few of them, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
But on Monday night, that juice wasn’t there. It’s not like they didn’t try, but thanks to a big, bouncy front-court of Davis and Kai Jones, Dallas shot a preposterous 69.6% from two. The Nets looked overmatched out the gate...
if at first you don't succeed, try again
With AD and Kai in the front-court, Nets putting two defenders on Klay has led to some easy buckets: pic.twitter.com/yxWtQKIJRa
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) March 24, 2025
They trailed 32-17 after the first quarter, and never cut it to single-digits again.
There were pockets of momentum, but each one was cut off by one of Brooklyn’s 19 turnovers. Dallas would score 31 points off turnovers, with Brooklyn scoring just 14. Between a porous half-court defense and their own 3-point shooting struggles, it was far too much to overcome, and thus, turned into a comfortable loss.
Season-long themes continued, though. Cam Johnson’s improvement remains staggering; we saw flashes of aggression and downhill scoring as far back as the 2023 playoffs — remember that dunk on Joel Embiid? — but to consistently create offense as a secondary option seemed impossible.
No longer. Johnson’s final stat-line won’t wow, as he put up 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, but some of the buckets did...
He also contributed to Brooklyn’s turnover woes with six of his own, but also tossed eight assists, a much-needed career-high with D’Angelo Russell missing another game.
“I’m comfortable putting the ball in his hands,” said Fernández. “And I think we’ve done it the whole year, and he’s done a great job for the group ... He’s done an amazing job the whole year, whether he had to shoot more threes, or put the ball on the floor, play-make more, get to the free-throw line. So he’s just been, he’s been amazing for the group.”
Is Johnson a long-term piece? Well, that depends on what Brooklyn’s long-term plans look like. But if nothing else, it’s a win for a player-development team who will soon see much more on their plate.
Trendon Watford also continued his strong play as of late, posting 12/1/14 off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting. He handled the ball on the perimeter in Russell’s stead, but more often posted up with strong results...
Hell, even Nic Claxton hit back-to-back threes in garbage time, securing a team-high 19 points.
Claxton also shared the court with Day’Ron Sharpe for a brief run in the second quarter; might as well try everything before the season runs out. If you’re a Nets fan expecting a full-on tank over the final ten games, Fernández didn’t show his full hand in postgame, but did hint at more unconventional rotations in the name of player evaluation.
“The approach is the same. It’s get 1% better and go out to fight for the game, no matter who’s out there. And I think we’ve done that the whole year, whether — our main purpose is, like I said, get better and see who is the next Net, and who is going to be here for the long run. And obviously, we have a job to do and evaluate, and it’s good to see all these guys that haven’t played as much.”
That could mean more NBA run for Dariq Whitehead and Maxwell Lewis (nine points on 4-of-6 shooting), or another 10-day contract for Killian Hayes, or code for some non-competitive losses coming up. Still, that would be unlike these Brooklyn Nets to this point.
In any case, the end of the season is, mercifully, almost here, and so is the future of the Brooklyn Nets.
Final Score: Dallas Mavericks 120, Brooklyn Nets 101