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Bucks Edge Nets 103-96, Brooklyn Remains Winless

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

 

NEW YORK — The slow start to the season continues for the Brooklyn Nets.

Six players scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough as the Nets were defeated by the Milwaukee Bucks 103-96 on Monday night at Barclays Center.

With the loss, the Nets fell to 0-4 on the young season.  They now have their worst beginning to a season since 2009-10, when they started 0-18.  This is not a good sign for the Nets, as they finished with a 12-70 record that year.

Brook Lopez led the Nets with 18 points and nine rebounds, with Shane Larkin and Bojan Bogdanovic combining to score 24 points off the bench.

Brooklyn battled back from a double-digit deficit to take a brief lead in the fourth quarter on a Larkin jumper, but things changed when Lopez picked up his fifth personal foul with 4:44 remaining.  He sat on the bench for the next four minutes and watched as the Nets shot 1-for-6 from the floor during that span.  The Bucks teed off a 9-0 run to close out the game.

Jerryd Bayless, Greg Monroe, and Giannis Antetokounmpo combined to score 70 points in the win for Milwaukee.  Bayless tied a career high with six 3-pointers made as Jason Kidd’s Bucks earned their first victory of the year.

The Bucks won even without three of their key pieces.  Forward Jabari Parker, guard O.J. Mayo, and big man John Henson are all making their way back from various injuries.  Parker, the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft is slated to make his season debut on Wednesday night in Philadelphia after tearing his left ACL last year.

It was a bit surprising that rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson only logged four minutes of playing time on the night.  He’s been one of the few bright spots for the Nets since the season began, and he needs to be on the floor in order to continue his development.

There are some telling stats that contribute to the Nets’ 0-4 start to the season.  They are being outscored by 17.1 points per 100 possessions, and shooting just 24.6 percent from 3-point range.   With today’s NBA being all about intense team defense and high volume 3-point shooting, the Nets are quickly falling behind in both of those categories.

 

Notes: The game was delayed briefly during the fourth quarter because of a pickle on the court.  Where else have you heard that before?

The announced attendance for the game was 12,576, which could possibly be the lowest total for a Nets home game since moving to Brooklyn in 2012.

The Nets have Tuesday off and will face the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday night.

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Jason Goldstein is a co host of the Baseline Jumper NBA podcast, recording every Tuesday night along Ben McDonald. Jason has also spent time as the Basketball Editor at DoubleGSports.com while also handling the Brooklyn Nets Lead Writer duties since October 2015.
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