Mikel Brown Jr. and Danny Wolf helped flip the script for the Nets on Wednesday night, giving Brooklyn a much-needed jolt in a 114-104 comeback win over the Charlotte Hornets at Barclays Center.
Brown, the rookie guard, played with a confidence the Nets have been searching for. He finished with a career-high 18 points in just 19 minutes, going 6-for-11 from the field and 3-for-5 from deep while adding four assists. His night started with a 26-foot 3 late in the first quarter after creating just enough room against Moussa Diabaté, and he kept making things happen from there - driving the baseline to set up Moritz Wagner for a dunk, then drawing help and finding Noah Clowney for an open triple.
The rookie did have rough patches. Brown turned it over four times, including twice in the fourth quarter, and Jordi Fernández pulled him after one mistake led to a Charlotte transition basket. Still, the bigger picture was hard to miss: Brooklyn had a young guard who could create advantages on his own, and that’s not something the offense has had consistently through the first eight games.
Wolf’s impact was even more surprising.
He barely had a place in the rotation before Wednesday, but Fernández turned to him 1:28 into the third quarter after a difficult opening stretch from Chaney Johnson. The second-year forward immediately gave Brooklyn another shooter, passer and ballhandler, and the Nets answered with an 11-0 run to grab a 61-59 lead. Wolf hit a 3 during that burst and finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists on 4-for-6 shooting, including two triples, in 18 minutes.
His best play came in transition. With Brooklyn protecting its fourth-quarter lead, Day’Ron Sharpe blocked Grayson Allen at the rim, Wolf grabbed the rebound, pushed the ball the length of the floor and finished through contact for an and-one that stretched the margin to double digits.
Brooklyn’s offense looked far more organized after halftime than it had in the first two quarters. Charlotte led 57-50 at the break, with Allen scoring 20 of his 22 points before halftime.
The Hornets also controlled the glass early, grabbing nine offensive rebounds while the Nets had none. There was even an odd sequence involving Wagner, who after being called for a foul in the first quarter signaled to the bench for a challenge; the officials reviewed it and upgraded the foul to a flagrant-one.
The Nets finally found their rhythm after the break. Michael Porter Jr. buried three straight 3s in the fourth quarter to help turn a close game into Brooklyn’s biggest lead to that point. He finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Julius Randle added 22 points and four assists.
Nolan Traoré also gave Brooklyn a lift, scoring 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting and adding three steals while Brown sat late.
Sharpe chipped in a career-high eight assists and two blocks despite picking up two fouls in the opening 1:51. Brooklyn as a team shot 50.6% from the field, made 14 threes and recorded 25 assists on 40 baskets. The Nets outscored Charlotte 64-47 after halftime and 34-24 in the fourth quarter.
That closing stretch mattered after what happened two nights earlier, when Brooklyn scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter of a 103-90 loss to the Knicks. After that game, Fernández questioned the team’s offensive organization and its ability to make decisions without constant instruction. Against Charlotte, the ball moved, different players initiated, and the Nets kept scoring.
The win lifted Brooklyn to 2-6 and gave the team its first home victory. It also marked its second win in three games after opening with five straight losses.
Fernández still has rotation choices to sort through. Johnson played nine minutes, Keon Ellis played 10, and Clowney left in the third quarter with right knee soreness. But Wolf and Mann showed the value of having more offensive versatility available.
Brooklyn opens a four-game road trip Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena, and Brown and Wolf made a strong case for more opportunities.
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