The Brooklyn Nets came up short against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night in Las Vegas, dropping an 83-76 Summer League game in their fifth outing of the summer.
Brooklyn’s overall West Coast run now sits at 3-2 when the California Classic is included, while the team is 1-1 in the Las Vegas portion after blowing out the New York Knicks on Friday night.
The Nets were without Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr., the only two players sidelined after both posted 20-point games the night before. Joshua Jefferson, the 28th overall pick in this year’s draft, made his debut in black-and-white and finished with eight points in 24 minutes. The 6’9”, 240-pound point forward shot 1-of-8, and added an assist, a rebound, two steals, and two turnovers.
Chaney Johnson kept rolling. One of Brooklyn’s confirmed two-way players, he came out firing and put up 12 points in the first quarter alone, doing it in just seven minutes while also grabbing six rebounds, including three offensive boards, and collecting two steals. He went 2-3 from deep and 5-6 overall in that opening burst.
Johnson finished with 20 points, tied with Danny Wolf for the team high, along with 10 rebounds, four steals, and five offensive rebounds. At 6’7”, he’s undersized for a traditional center, but he’s been holding his own all summer and did the same last year in the G League. That strength and edge have kept him on the floor, and if this level sticks through preseason, a standard NBA contract wouldn’t be out of the question.
Wolf was just as productive. The Michigan product turned in a 20-point night of his own, hitting 9-of-16 shots while adding five rebounds and a steal.
Every time he plays, his physicality around the rim stands out, and when you pair that with his shooting touch, the stretch-big upside is obvious. The only real question is consistency.
Tyler Bilodeau, another two-way player and a second-round rookie, cooled off after a hot stretch. He finished 1-of-6 from the field with five points, four rebounds, and an assist, and missed all four of his 3-point tries. His defensive issues have also started to show over the last couple of games, especially when he gives up the baseline and gets beat down low.
Ben Saraf, Drake Powell, and Danny Wolf all had different kinds of nights. Saraf scored 15 points but needed 14 shots to get there, going 4-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-7 at the line, while also handing out five assists and helping run the offense at times. Powell’s rough stretch continued in a big way: he went 0-of-7 and missed both of his 3-point attempts, and he’s now made just one of his 27 field-goal tries across the two summer leagues, a brutal 3.7%.
Brooklyn’s three Exhibit 10 players - Ben Humrichous, Dion Brown and Duke Brennan - all had quiet nights. Brown and Humrichous combined for four points, and Brennan never got on the floor.
The Nets didn’t get the win, but Johnson and Wolf gave them plenty to like.
Brooklyn now has a few days off before facing the Sacramento Kings on July 14 at 6:00 pm ET. It’s still unclear which young players will be available for that one, but there’s a chance it could feature another look at Darius Acuff Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr., whose rivalry stretches back to high school and AAU. That’s the matchup both fanbases would love to see, especially the Acuff truthers within Nets Twitter.
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