The Brooklyn Nets had this one in their hands for most of Saturday night, then watched it slip away in the fourth quarter.
Brooklyn built a 17-point lead and controlled the game for nearly the entire night at State Farm Arena, but Atlanta finished stronger and walked off with a 124-121 win. The loss dropped the Nets to 2-7, while the Hawks moved to 7-4.
Brooklyn came out flying. The Nets opened with a 12-2 burst powered by Nolan Traoré, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Michael Porter Jr.
Traoré scored four of Brooklyn’s first six points, including a steal and transition layup, then added a three-pointer to keep the pressure on. Porter followed with a three of his own, and Atlanta quickly burned an early timeout.
The hot start kept rolling. Julius Randle hit from deep, Danny Wolf knocked down a three in his first start of the season, and Brooklyn kept finding answers across the lineup.
Wolf entered the starting five in place of Chaney Johnson, who returned to a bench role. The Nets were scorching early, going 12-of-14 from the field to start and finishing the first quarter ahead 37-27.
Atlanta had its own return piece in Jalen Johnson, who had missed the previous three games. Onyeka Okongwu also briefly exited just 26 seconds into the game with an apparent throat injury, though he returned and made an impact.
By halftime, Porter had 18 points, Traoré had 15, and Sharpe had already piled up eight points and eight assists. Johnson led Atlanta with 14 points, and the Hawks had also turned Brooklyn’s mistakes into offense, scoring 15 points off 11 first-half turnovers.
Brooklyn kept the edge through the third quarter, winning the period 25-22 and carrying the lead into the final frame. Porter stayed active, while Randle, Sharpe, and Wolf helped hold the line. Traoré continued to look sharp, creating for himself and for others.
Then the game flipped.
Atlanta started to find its rhythm from outside in the fourth quarter, with Aaron Wiggins knocking down back-to-back threes early in the period. Brooklyn got a boost from Mikel Brown Jr., who hit multiple triples to help keep the Hawks from fully breaking through. Brown’s third three of the quarter pushed the Nets ahead 114-110, but Atlanta answered right back.
Okongwu buried a three, Johnson tied it at 114, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker knocked down two free throws to give the Hawks their first lead of the night. Brooklyn had led from the opening minutes until that point, but the closing stretch belonged to Atlanta.
The Hawks then ripped off a 13-2 run after trailing by as many as 17. Johnson kept attacking the basket, Alexander-Walker added another score, and suddenly Atlanta had a six-point cushion. Randle stopped the run with a layup, but the Nets couldn’t string together enough stops to recover.
Brooklyn did create one last chance. Danny Wolf hit a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left after the Nets executed an intentionally missed free throw perfectly, giving them a final opening. Atlanta answered by securing another free throw to seal the 124-121 result.
The final numbers explained plenty. Atlanta won the battle in the paint 70-48 and committed just 12 turnovers, while Brooklyn had 22. Those mistakes, plus the Hawks’ late surge, turned a game the Nets had controlled into another painful loss.
Porter led Brooklyn with 25 points and nine rebounds. Randle finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists.
Traoré posted 19 points and four steals in what was arguably his best performance of the season. Brown added 18 points, and Wolf finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Sharpe turned in a strong all-around line as well, recording 12 points, 10 rebounds, and a career-high 13 assists for a triple-double.
One of the more notable decisions came in the fourth quarter, when Traoré never returned to the floor after such a strong showing through the first three periods. Keon Ellis also did not play, marking his first DNP of the season, while Danny Wolf and Terance Mann appeared to move ahead of him in the rotation.
Brooklyn now has to move on quickly. The Nets are back in action Sunday night when they visit the Dallas Mavericks for a 7:30 p.m. ET tipoff.
In Other News...
Nets Still Waiting On Egor Demin As Backcourt Absences Pile Up
The Nets backcourt depth is getting tested again, with Egor Demin set to sit out the upcoming game against the Dallas Mavericks because of a right leg bone bruise. Brooklyn will have to keep waiting on the rookie, who remains in the evaluation process as the team works through another stretch of absences.
Mikel Brown Jr. will also be unavailable against Dallas, leaving the Nets even thinner in the guard rotation. Both players are at least in line to be in the conversation for Brooklyns next game against the New Orleans Pelicans, giving the team a possible boost after a short turnaround and a chance to regain some needed stability in the backcourt. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Rotation Faces Heat After A Loss Brooklyn Should Have Closed
For three quarters, Brooklyn looked like it had done enough to put another win in the bank, building a lead and leaning on a balanced effort from Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle. Porter finished with 25 points and nine rebounds, while Randle added 19 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in a game that, for long stretches, seemed to be trending the Nets way.
Then the closing stretch turned into the kind of loss that tends to linger in a locker room and in the film room. The 124-121 defeat to Atlanta left Brooklyn sorting through player grades and individual performances, but the bigger concern is harder to grade: how a game that was there to be closed slipped away when it mattered most. [Read more 🡒]
Julius Randle May Have Just Changed Brooklyns Late-Game Rotation
Jordi Fernndez got a useful look at something different in the fourth quarter against Charlotte, and it helped carry the Nets to a 114-104 win. Instead of leaning on the usual late-game mix, Brooklyn kept reserves Danny Wolf and Terance Mann on the floor, and the move paid off as the group helped the Nets separate in the final period.
Julius Randle still did his part with 22 points, but he also showed the kind of selflessness coaches love when a game starts tilting in the right direction. The bigger question now is whether Fernndez treats that stretch as a one-off adjustment or the start of a new closing formula, especially with Wolf and Mann making a strong case to stay in the mix when games tighten up. [Read more 🡒]