The Nets desperately needed somebody other than Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. to step up.
asserted
somebody → need → Randle
Egor Dëmin did just that.
asserted
Dëmin → do → that
But they had dug too deep a hole for the Russian’s late-game eruption and fourth-quarter shooting to dig them out of.
asserted
eruption → dig → them
After dropping their home opener, Brooklyn followed with a 125-121 loss to the Cavaliers on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 19,432 at Rocket Arena, including team owner Joe Tsai.
asserted
Brooklyn → drop → Tsai
He made the trip to watch his team, and saw a heartbreaker.
asserted
He → make → heartbreaker
The Nets trailed by 22 after a Jaylon Tyson 3-pointer in the fourth quarter before storming back to pull within four.
asserted
Nets → trail → four
The Cavaliers had blown a 29-point cushion in losing at Philadelphia in their season opener.
asserted
Cavaliers → blow → opener
The Nets nearly pulled off a similar comeback.
asserted
Nets → pull → comeback
It was an encouraging performance for the Nets — who had dropped their season opener at home against Charlotte — and Dëmin, who had been horrible against the Hornets.
asserted
who → drop → Hornets
He acknowledged a need to improve, and did just that.
asserted
He → acknowledge → that
Dëmin had 22 points, six assists and 5-for-10 shooting from 3-point range.
asserted
Dëmin → have → range
He scored 15 in the fourth quarter, when Brooklyn sliced what had been a 22-point deficit to just two.
asserted
what → score → two
It will be enough to buoy his confidence.
asserted
It → buoy → confidence
But it was almost enough to win.
asserted
it → win → ?
“Yeah, I think it tells you a lot about how good of a leader he is at his age, because he has high expectations by himself,” coach Jordi Fernández said.
asserted
Fernández → think → himself
“And like I talked to him this morning, keep getting aggressive, still the things that I want you to do and the team needs you to, you have to do it.
asserted
you → talk → it
He’s a big guard; we know he can rebound well, so help us there, too.
asserted
he → ’ → us
Sometimes you think about it’s the first game, you want to see the ball go in; but sometimes just a good defense, a good deflection, a rebound also, gives you a little bit of confidence.
asserted
defense → think → confidence
And then things start happening.
asserted
things → start → ?
And I thought that that anxiety a little bit of the first day didn’t help.
asserted
anxiety → think → day
But that’s part of the NBA.”
asserted
that → ’ → NBA
With 23 points, six rebounds and five assists, Randle joined James Harden as the only Net with 20-5-5 in consecutive games to start the season.
asserted
Randle → join → season
And in the end, they fell to 0-2 with the tail end of a back-to-back coming Sunday at home against the visiting Pacers.
asserted
end → fall → Pacers
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 22, while Jarrett Allen added 21.
asserted
Allen → lead → 21
The defeat in Cleveland started a string of six straight games against expected Eastern Conference playoff teams, contenders tabbed to win at least 44.5 games by Las Vegas bookmakers.
asserted
defeat → start → bookmakers
In short, this could get worse before it gets better.
uncertain
it → get → ?
That wouldn’t last long, the Nets not having much forth after that, until their late-game surge.
asserted
Nets → last → surge
A Nolan Traore free throw put the Nets ahead 30-29 with 41.3 seconds left in the first, but they gave up a quick 11-0 blitz that spanned the periods.
asserted
that → put → periods
Mitchell capped the Cavaliers run with a foul shot that left the Nets down 40-30 with 10:51 left in the second quarter.
asserted
that → cap → quarter
They never led again the rest of the night.
asserted
They → lead → night
Brooklyn closed within a point, when Dëmin found Keon Ellis for a 3-pointer that made it 45-44 with 5:45 remaining in the half.
asserted
it → close → half
But they immediately surrendered a 13-2 run and lost contact.
asserted
they → surrender → contact
Trailing by a dozen after Peyton Watson’s 3-pointer with three minutes left in the half, the game wasn’t close again until Dëmin caught fire.
asserted
Dëmin → trail → fire
Brooklyn trailed 104-82 with 9:29 left before they went on a run.
asserted
they → trail → run
The Nets were still down 106-88 with eight minutes to play before Dëmin drilled three straight 3-pointers.
asserted
Dëmin → play → pointers
The last, off a Randle feed, made it 108-97 with 7:01 to play.
asserted
it → make → 7:01
And Porter’s 3-pointer pulled the Nets within 123-121 with 8.1 seconds left.
asserted
pointer → pull → seconds
But they couldn’t get over the hump.
asserted
they → get → hump
The Aporia
