LAS VEGAS — The Nets opened NBA Summer League play with some early jitters, spotting the Cavaliers an 18-point lead, then storming back into the lead, only to lose, 101-97, on Friday night.
Playing at intimate Cox Pavilion while 2023 No. 1-overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama was the main attraction at the adjacent Thomas & Mack Center, the Nets still provided some drama.
Like the big club, the Nets’ Summer League team got hammered 50-36 on the glass. Armoni Brooks and rookie second-round pick Jalen Wilson shared team-high honors with 17 points apiece.
“We didn’t quit. We went down 18 and it could’ve gone to 30,” said Trevor Hendry, the Nets assistant who is head coach of the summer squad. “It feels like it’s the recurring issue with us, it’s the rebounding part. … It’s got to be a team effort, not just one guy.”
Center Noah Clowney, their top pick in the draft last month, led the Nets with seven rebounds.
But at just 18 years old, the youngest draftee in team history, he struggled trying to catch up to the speed of the game.
“Yeah, it’s quicker because obviously you’ve got to get a good shot up within 24 seconds now, and nobody wants to play the whole 24 seconds. Most teams are trying to get it up first,” said Clowney, who had just four points on 1-for-9 shooting, 1-for-7 from 3-point range.
But Clowney never lost confidence, something Hendry and Wilson found auspicious. They encouraged him to keep shooting, but it wasn’t needed.
“They’re gonna tell me that, too. There’s been times where I’ve dropped my head after missing a lot of shots, maybe airballing one here or there, but [Friday] every shot I shot felt good. The one I lost the ball in the corner, airballed it. Every other shot felt good,” Clowney said. “I work too hard. I’m in the gym every day twice a day. I work too hard to not be confident in my own game.”
Kennedy Chandler had 16 points and five boards for the Nets, working his way into the game. After scoring two points on 1-for-6 shooting with no assists in the first quarter as the Nets trailed 28-17, he started to come on.
Sharife Cooper, who scored a game-high 27 points, put Cleveland up 52-34 with 1:43 left in the second quarter. Brooks then sparked a 27-5 run that spanned halftime, and his pull-up 3 gave the Nets a 61-57 lead midway through the third quarter.
He hit another to make it 64-59 with four minutes left in the third. But the Nets took their collective foot off the gas in the fourth.
“When you’re playing against good players that can make plays on their own, you can’t take two, three minutes off. That’s how [they came back],” Wilson said.
“We didn’t communicate. We had a stretch where we were down damn near 20, and we [started] guarding like we were desperate. Then we got up and we stopped guarding like we were desperate, and the game flipped again,” Clowney said. “We’re cool. We ain’t losing no more.”