Brooklyn Nets stumble through game vs Dallas Mavericks, lose 123-114

The Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks each faced a far more daunting opponent than each other before tonight. For those unaware, Mother Nature dumped over a foot of snow on New York City Sunday afternoon through Monday morning. Unable to fly in ahead of time, neither team arrived in the Big Apple before this morning.

Pregame, Jason Kidd couldn’t remember a time where he had to travel and play in the same day since his days running point for the team he’d coach against this evening.

 “I think with the Nets, we flew from here to Phoenix and played Phoenix the same day,” Kidd recalled. “It was a snowstorm — we sat on a plane, couldn’t get out, stayed at a hotel and then left in the morning. I think we were in that game for the first quarter and then fatigue set in. So yes, I’ve been in something like this.”

Outside of that anecdote, Kidd downplayed the whole ordeal, mentioning that they had a good practice yesterday and the team spirit remained positive. Brooklyn also seemed to make the best of the situation.

“T-Mann [Terance Mann] put together an outing to aquarium, and that was pretty awesome,” Jordi Fernández said. “Pretty much all the guys went there. I asked them questions about their favorite things that they saw. It was pretty good.”

Atlanta marine life seemed to rub off on Brooklyn. In the tank race, the Nets were swimming upstream tonight. Brooklyn came into the contest vs Dallas with a clean injury report while teams like the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards hid half their rotations on their benches tonight. The Mavericks, meanwhile, benefitted from injuries to Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving, and Derick Lively.

That said, Brooklyn’s advantage (strictly on the floor…not in long term team-building) never really took form. The Nets fell behind early after starting the game 5-13 from the field, even with Michael Porter Jr. opening it 3-3.

But aside from the misses, Brooklyn’s offense did look a tad more fluid, and at the very least, just entertaining to watch tonight. They assisted on four of those first five makes and tallied 29 for the game. Brooklyn doubled up on their bigs in the pick-and-roll early, with Noah Clowney and Nic Claxton screening for each other before Day’Ron Sharpe and Danny Wolf did took turns later in the first.

Despite Brooklyn’s early investment in size, it was Dallas who initially saw greater returns on the interior. Fueled by Daniel Gafford and Marvin Bagley, who combined to for 13 on 5-8 shooting, the Mavericks scored 20 points in the paint during the first quarter. Dallas also maintained a rebounding advantage the whole game. As a result, the Nets finished the first down 36-29.

When the teams swapped baskets, Dallas’ approach switched as well. Klay Thompson made three triples less than three minutes into the second to give his team a double digit lead. Bagley also continued to have his way with Claxton, adding seven more points in the frame to lead his team with 14 at halftime. He finished with a team-high 22 for the game.

Claxton’s front court mate did his best to keep Brooklyn within striking distance. Clowney banged three triples in the second, one of which Clax even assisted on…

However, Brooklyn remained behind even as Claxton and Clowney looked to make up for their team’s paint passivity. Claxton had a game-high seven dimes by halftime and Brooklyn even managed to shoot 60.5% from the field in the first two periods. Regardless, Dallas maintained a 76-64 lead, shooting even better from the field (64.4%) and a full touchdown ahead on the glass (21-14).

Even after the Mavs scored the first four points of the second half, putting a daunting 80-64 score on the board at one point, Brooklyn kept the deficit in the 8-10 point range for much of the third. Brooklyn’s veteran though not exactly “old” group did the bulk work.

Through three, Porter Jr., Claxton, and Clowney had 57 points, shooting 21-29 from the field and 6-8 on threes. The seven other Nets combined for just 34 points, shooting 13-32 from the field and 4-15 from deep. Egor Dëmin looked in danger of going scoreless for the the second time this season, having zero points to his name at the start of the fourth after missing all five of his shots thus far.

Of course, the first Net to reach double figures outside those three was the oldest guy on the team. Terance Mann did so with a buttery mid-range finish early in the fourth. After leading his teammates to an eventful layover day in the ATL, he took charge again in the fourth, putting in 10 quick points in the period’s first five minutes and even made it a basket difference at one point.

But despite Mann’s productivity, Fernández opted to close with his original staring five, which included Traoré and Dëmin, who were a collective 4-17 by that point.

And while Dëmin finally broke the seal with a little over three to go in the game, the Nets couldn’t do the same with Dallas’ offense. The Mavs continued to switch Claxton and Traoré on defense, putting the latter in the paint and the Nets at a size disadvantage. Whether it was a Dallas big finished over Nolan, or the team working the ball around to find an open man after the Nets sent help, the Mavs slowly but surely rebuilt their lead down the stretch.

In the end, the issues the plagued Brooklyn from the start came back to bite them. They lost 44-28 on the glass and were -16 in the paint. The rookies combined for just 20 points while shooting 7-24 from the field and with seven turnovers.

Well, at least everyone is home safe.

Final: Dallas Mavericks 123, Brooklyn Nets 114

Milestone Watch

• Nic Claxton scored 16 points with nine assists tonight against Dallas, which tied the fourth-most assists in a game in his career. It was his 10th career game with at least seven dimes, nine of which have come this season.
• Noah Clowney has recorded his eighth 20-point game of the season tonight against Dallas, which is now twice as many 20-point outings as his first two seasons combined (four). He has made four 3-pointers (4-of-5), tied as his third-most of the season (13th game with 4+ 3PM).
• Terance Mann’s 17 points off the bench tonight vs. Dallas are tied as his second most in a game this season. He is shooting 6-9 FG, 2-3 3PT and 3-4 FT.

So where do we find ourselves in the Tankathon rankings? Better than ever! The Nets are within two games of the No. 2 spot and within three games of the top spot.

Next Up

The Nets will get their second and final shot of the season at the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. Brooklyn visited and lost to the Spurs in their third game, way back in late October. San Antonio will play this one as the latter half of a back-to-back sequence, but they’ve also won nine in a row. This one tips off at 7:30 p.m. EST at the Barclays Center.

• Boxscore: Dallas Mavericks 123, Brooklyn Nets 114 – NBA
• Game Highlights: Dallas Mavericks 123, Brooklyn Nets 114 (Video) – NBA
• Jordi Fernandez PostGame Interview (Video) – YES Network
• Michael Porter Jr. PostGame Interview (Video) – YES Network
• Terance Mann PostGame Interview (Video) – YES Network
• Mavericks beat the Nets 123-114 after both teams arrive on game day because of the blizzard – AP
• Nets outclassed by injury-marred Mavericks to keep pace in lottery standings – Brian Lewis – New York Post
• After travel chaos, Nets can’t catch Mavericks in 123-114 home loss ($) – C.J. Holmes – New York Daily News
• Blizzard detour, aquarium stop and all: Nets, Mavericks push through travel chaos to meet at Barclays Center ($) – C.J. Holmes – New York Daily News
• Nets player grades after 123-114 loss to the Mavericks – Sharif Phillips-Keaton – USA TODAY
• NBA rumors: Rival teams still viewing Nets as Giannis Antetokounmpo trade suitor – Erik Slater – Clutch Points