ORLANDO, Fla. — Coming back to the same place they had so thoroughly embarrassed themselves just two weeks ago wasn’t enough to motivate the Nets to guard.
One is beginning to wonder what will.
Brooklyn lost 114-106 to the Magic before a crowd of 18,846 at Kia Center, with a non-effort that was one of their worst of the season.
AP
And in this disappointing campaign, that’s a low bar.
After having suffered a 27-point loss in this same building to cap a five-game road trip on Feb. 27 — one in which Nic Claxton admitted the Magic “punked” them — the Nets had all the incentive to bounce back. But if all of their recent bad losses didn’t light a fire under them, one has to wonder if there’s anything there left to burn.
“No, I wouldn’t say [one loss is incentive]. We’ve had our fair share of tough games, and if the lot of them aren’t enough of a wake-up call, then that one singular Orlando game won’t be,” said Cam Johnson, who returned from a three-game absence. “So I think we understand that.”
But the Nets (26-40) didn’t do anything about it. Or certainly not enough.
Despite being fairly healthy with the return of Johnson, the Nets allowed the Magic to shoot 51.9 percent — 61.5 percent in the first half with 8 of 14 from deep.
They even got a little comical help from the Magic (38-28), with big man Jonathan Isaac actually tipping a potential rebound into the Nets’ basket for them.
That made it 80-67 with 5:22 left in the third. Rookie Jalen Wilson got the credit — but plenty of Nets had to take some blame Wednesday.
Thomas had a team-high 21 points, and Mikal Bridges added 17 — but the Nets shot just 7 of 26 from deep. They saw Paolo Banchero post 21 points and nine boards to lead seven Magic players in double figures.
Brooklyn temporarily fell four games behind Atlanta for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference — five in the loss column.
The Hawks played Wednesday night in Portland.
The Nets still have two games left on this season-long six-game stretch away from home — Saturday in Indiana, and then against the Spurs in Austin.
The Nets have been wildly inconsistent of late, with routs of Memphis, Atlanta and in Cleveland on Sunday, but blowout losses to the Grizzlies, Pistons and Hornets. Now add Wednesday to the list, not because of whom they lost to but because of the complete lack of defensive effort they showed.
“We didn’t start off with the same if not more energy as what they were bringing onto that game [two weeks ago], and it showed. That’s one thing; it’s just consistently bringing that game focus and that energy every single game, no matter who we’re playing against or what it might be,” Lonnie Walker said. “In the last seven games we have some pretty good wins and we’ve got some pretty bad losses as well.”
The Nets surrendered a 12-2 Magic blitz right out of the gate, capped by Franz Wagner finding Wendell Carter Jr. for a dunk.
By the time Johnson checked into the game with 5:27 left in the first quarter, Brooklyn had already dug a 19-11 hole.
The Nets trailed 33-16 after one, their defense nothing short of abysmal. They let Orlando shoot a perfect 8-for-8 in the paint in that opening period.
Down 36-19, Brooklyn finally tried to answer, reeling off seven unanswered. Thomas found Johnson for a 3-pointer to pull the Nets within 10.
But they couldn’t build on that momentum. A Bridges eurostep got blocked by Carter, and it led to a Gary Harris fast break the other way and 54-38 deficit.
Another Harris layup pushed it to 56-38 with 4:34 left in the half.
The Nets did respond with a 16-3 run, briefly pulling within five. A Thomas 3-pointer made it 59-54 with 33 seconds remaining in the half. But that’s as close as they got.
The Nets let Orlando pull away again. Claxton dunked but got a silly technical — his ninth of the season — afterward for an unneeded elbow. Wagner hit the ensuing free throw to make it 70-61, and the momentum was gone. Brooklyn never challenged the rest of the night.