There was a lot of action happening on and off the court at the Barclays Center on Sunday. On the court, the Charlotte Hornets capitalized when it mattered the most and beat the Brooklyn Nets 111-95 in their home opener.
The Nets dug themselves in a 19-point first-quarter hole in their season opening loss to the Milwaukee Bucks and a 14-point deficit at Philadelphia on Friday. They repeated the same circumstances Sunday, falling behind by 7 (9-2) at the onset of the game.
While Miles Bridges was attempting his free throws, making the score 16-10, Nets’ coach Steve Nash subbed in Bruce Brown and Paul Millsap for James Harden and Joe Harris. It was Brown’s first meaningful minutes of the year and he was on the court for just 23 seconds before he connected on a jumper from downtown. Trailing 19-13, the Nets came back with a 13-2 run.
Four minutes into the second half, Harden gave the Nets the lead 68-59 with a running dunk, but that is when things started to take a turn for the worse for the Nets.
Holding on to a 70-64 lead on Browns’ layup, the Nets allowed a 9-2 runs. Bridges’ 3-point play capped the Hornets run. Ish Smith’s pull-up gave Charlotte a 79-78 lead after three quarters and they never trailed again.
After leading by double digits just before the half and by nine in the third quarter, the Nets were outscored by 15 in the final quarter.
La Melo Ball had a great first three quarters of the game for the Hornets, but sat out the fourth and watched Ish Smith playing extremely well and then asked coach James Borrego to stick with this backup.
“That’s big. That just shows where our growth is,” forward Miles Bridges said. “As long as he’s being mature and we’re all being mature, we’re going to keep winning.”
Before the game, Nets coach Steve Nash had this to say about the Hornets… “They are excellent in transition, they play a lot of random basketball in transition which is difficult to defend and scheme against. So taking care of the ball will be huge for us to try to limit as much as possible the easy opportunities they create in transition.” Nash was right.
Bridges had an outstanding game with 32 points and nine rebounds. Smith had 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Ball had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, but it was the Hornets bench who led them in the final stanza. Cody Martin scored eight of his 12 points in the final 12 minutes.
Before that, it was another big night for Bridges as stated earlier. He had his second straight 30-point performance and was a point away from tying his career high.
Nets forward Kevin Durant scored 38 points on 17 of 24 from the field. James Harden was the only other player in double figures with 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for Brooklyn.
Before the Nets suffered their first loss at home, it was what happened outside the arena that was the headline of the day.
According to sources, roughly an hour before tip, large gathering estimated at 600 protestors took to the Barclays Center plaza, resulting in a temporary lockdown of the arena. The protestors, who held American Flags and “Stand With Kyrie” signs, chanted their displeasure at the city’s vaccine mandates and at one point attempted to rush the barriers outside the main entrance.
Eventually, all ticketed guests were able to enter the arena shortly before tip with some rolled in as the first quarter was underway. A spokeswoman for the arena said that “Only ticketed guests were able to enter the building and the game proceeded according to schedule.”
The Nets look to get back on track as they host the Washington Wizards on Monday night. The Hornets look to keep their winning streak alive against the winless Boston Celtics on Monday.
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