Well, back to reality.
And not even Tony Brown or Mikhail Prokhorov can change the harsh reality of the 11-28 Brooklyn Nets. They lost their fifth straight game, 10th at home with a 106-79 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
To be fair, the Spurs are a team the Nets would kill to replicate Simply put, they're on a completely different level that the Nets haven't seen since losing to them in the finals of the 2002-2003 season.
The Barclays Center crowd continued to cheer louder for the opposing team and its players, namely the 7'3" Boban Marjanovic (13 points).
This game was what you'd predict a Nets vs. Spurs game to look like. In the first half, it was Brook Lopez vs. LaMarcus Aldridge. The Nets were down for most of the half, but stayed close enough to be content heading into the locker room.
Aldridge scored 16 of his 25 points in the first half. He also grabbed 11 rebounds. Kawhi Leonard was right behind him with 17 points and eight assists.
The Nets were only down seven at half, but Lopez failed to get going in the third quarter and the Nets paid for it. The Spurs went up by as much as 22 and outscored Brooklyn, 31-18. They went up 29 later in the fourth. Lopez finished with 18 points, but was held to four points in the second half.
We know how this goes by now.
Joe Johnson chipped in 16 of his own points (6-of-7) and looked a bit more active on both sides of the ball. Perhaps the coaching change will jolt Joe a bit, who was called "Slow Johnson" by a fan according to the always-great Mike Mazzeo. Remember when he was Joe Jesus?
Lopez, Johnson and Thomas Robinson (10 points) were the only Nets in double figures..
The Spurs shot 4-of-13 from three and 53 percent from the field. The Nets shot 45 percent and committed 19 turnovers. They also shot 2-of-12 from three and finished with only 15 assists. The Spurs had 27 assists.
Donald Sloan was inserted into the starting lineup following a 15 and 10 night vs. Detroit, but failed to make an impact with two points and five assists in 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, Bojan Bogdanovic's struggles continued as he finished with zero points on 0-for-5 shooting. He's 0 for his last 16 in the last three games. Bogdanovic stepped up when Rondae Hollis-Jefferson went down, but once his shot turned off, he essentially became useless.
How bad was it? This bad.
Must be boring when you own a perennial title "contender". @NetsDaily pic.twitter.com/WTUPEHRHYv
— TK (@tonesNdef) January 12, 2016
Quick observations on Tony Brown:
- The guy is a very proactive coach. You could hear him yelling throughout the game and I'm unsure he even sat down during the game. Unfortunately, he had to face the Spurs in his debut.
- The emphasis on offense was certainly Brook Lopez early. He took 12 shots in the first half.
- He tried a variety of different lineups and gave all 12 active players some playing time. At this point, might as well give everybody a chance to prove themselves, right?
The New York Knickerbockers will be in town Wednesday, for what will probably be the least active 'battle of the boroughs' since the Nets moved to Brooklyn. Expect the blue & orange to invade.
For more on the San Antonio Spurs, check them out at Pounding The Rock
- San Antonio Spurs vs Brooklyn Nets - Box Score - NBA.com
- San Antonio Spurs vs. Brooklyn Nets - Box Score - ESPN
- Game Thread: Brooklyn Nets vs. San Antonio Spurs, 7:30 PM - NetsDaily
- 2nd Half Game Thread: Spurs at Nets - NetsDaily
- Spurs win 8th straight in Nets' first game since shake-up - Brian Mahoney - AP
- Manu Finds The Big Man (Video) - NBA.com
- Manu Finds The Open Man (Video) - NBA.com
- Kawhi Goes And Gets It For The Dunk (Video) - NBA.com
- Leonard does work in the paint (Video) - NBA.com
- Lopez With The Spin (Video) - NBA.com
- Nice Footwork (Video) - NBA.com
- Same old Nets lose by 27 to Spurs - Mark Herrmann - Newsday
- Brooklyn Nets interim coach Tony Brown trying to make best of it - Mike Mazzeo - ESPN New York
- Nets lose to Spurs, 106-79, under interim coach Tony Brown - Andy Vasquez - The Record
- Don't expect Nets to stay quiet for too long - Steve Popper - The Record
- Stable Spurs Meet Turbulent Nets, and the Outcome Is Predictable - Seth Berkman - New York Times
- Ginobili Made Spurs Assistant a Believer Back in Italy - Harvey Araton - New York Times
- Nets’ Interim Coach Brown Gets Rousing Barclays Welcome - Alex Raskin - Wall Street Journal
- Nets’ interim coach’s job begins with miserable thud - Brian Lewis - New York Post
- Spurs trounce Brooklyn Nets day after organizational shakeup - Nathaniel VInton - New York Daily News
- Nets face buzzsaw in Tony Brown's first game, lose by 27 (Game Grades) - Benny Nadeau - The Brooklyn Game
- Spurs extend winning streak to season-best 8 games with rout of Nets - Nick Moyle - San Antonio Express-News