Mikel Brown Jr. finally got on the floor for Brooklyn, and the Nets’ third July outing turned into the kind of Summer League game that lets a rookie flash without needing to carry the whole load.
Brown Jr., the sixth overall pick and Brooklyn’s highest drafted player since 2010, had sat out the first two games. Against Golden State in the California Classic finale, he made his debut count right away.
Brooklyn opened with Egor Dëmin running the offense and Brown Jr. working off the ball, but the rookie still set up the Nets’ first basket. Not long after, he buried a smooth 3-pointer off a Dëmin steal, then later found Chaney Johnson for his third assist of the first quarter.
Johnson was busy early too, scoring Brooklyn’s first seven points while adding two steals, two rebounds and a block. Bilodeau chipped in six on a pair of 3-pointers, but the Warriors still took a 28-24 lead into the second after catching fire from deep and moving the ball through Brooklyn’s pressure.
That edge didn’t last long. Ben Saraf, who opened the game 0-for-2 with two turnovers, helped spark the turnaround with the Nets’ guards turning up the heat defensively.
Brooklyn forced Golden State into mistakes, sped up its rotations and ripped off a 12-0 run that Brown Jr. finished with help from Bilodeau. That burst grew into a 20-2 surge, and the Nets went to halftime ahead 56-46.
Johnson had 15 points at the break on 7-for-9 shooting. Bilodeau had 12 after hitting 4 of 6 from three, Dëmin had 10 points and three assists, and Brooklyn as a team was 9-for-18 from beyond the arc.
The third quarter settled into a back-and-forth stretch with the lead hovering around 10. Both teams got sloppy at times, and offensive fouls helped slow the pace.
Then Brooklyn slammed the door in the fourth.
Golden State didn’t score until the 7:38 mark of the period, and the Nets kept turning stops into easy offense. Aaron Scott added five quick points, Johnson kept bullying his way to the rim, and Saraf settled in as a playmaker, feeding Johnson and others for clean looks. Johnson finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Saraf ended up with 15 points and seven assists on 6-for-12 shooting, including 3-for-6 from deep, and was a team-best plus-28. Bilodeau hit his sixth 3-pointer of the night to give Brooklyn its biggest lead with 1:49 left and finished with 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting from long range.
Dëmin led the Nets with 23 points, adding eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and three turnovers. He shot 7-for-12 from the field and 2-for-7 from three, and scored the final two points just before the horn.
Brown Jr. didn’t return after the 2:22 mark of the third quarter, and Brooklyn likely kept him on a pitch count after holding him out of the first two games. He finished with 10 points, four assists, one rebound and two turnovers, shooting 4-for-11 overall and 2-for-5 from deep. The box score wasn’t overwhelming, but the feel was there: the passing, the shot confidence, the way he saw the floor.
Brooklyn’s California Classic run is over, but the summer keeps moving. The Nets will face the New York Knicks on July 10 in Las Vegas.
The game will be streamable on ESPN and tips off at 6:00 p.m. EST.
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