Nets celebrate finale with ‘block’ party

Bid farewell to Brooklyn with comeback win over Raptors

April 11, 2024 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Noah Clowney fell one shy of the Nets record for most blocked shots by a rookie Wednesday night at Downtown's Barclays Center. AP Photo by Mary Altaffer

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The Nets ended the home portion of their 2023-24 schedule with a genuine Brooklyn block party at Downtown’s Barclays Center Wednesday.

Rookie Noah Clowney had seven of the Nets’ 15 blocked shots and Cam Thomas scored 23 points as the announced sellout crowd of 17,732 gathered to bid farewell to their team until next season enjoyed a 106-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

Coming off Sunday’s 30-point loss to Sacramento here Sunday, both Clowney and the Nets (32-48) had something to atone for in the finale of what proved to be a 3-1 homestand.

The Nets’ 19-year-old rookie power forward looked helpless against Kings dynamo Domantas Sabonis over the weekend.

Sacramento’s big man extraordinaire piled up 18 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists against Clowney in the 107-77 beatdown.

Brooklyn interim coach Kevin Ollie intimated afterward that Clowney would grow from the humbling experience and the Nets’ first-round pick did just that in this year’s Barclays swan song.

He had 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, ripped down seven rebounds and spearheaded Brooklyn to its most blocked shots since moving to our borough in 2012.

Clowney finished one block behind Mike Gminski (1981) and Sean Williams (2007) for the most in a single game by a Nets rookie.

“He came in ready. You never know when opportunity is going to knock on your door,” Ollie said of Clowney, who logged a career-high 39 minutes.

“He took on every challenge we gave him. … He had seven blocks and just the resilience he showed.”

Clowney also knotted the back-and-forth affair at 97-97 on a thunderous dunk with 2:22 remaining in regulation.

His seventh and final block of the night helped protect a 102-100 lead when he swatted Garrett Temple’s layup attempt with 15 ticks left on the clock.

“They kept trying to lay the ball up and I kept blocking it,” said the NBA’s second-youngest player.

“One of the best plays all season,” Ollie added of the game-saving effort.

Dennis Schroder piled up 21 points and nine assists Wednesday as the Nets bid farewell to Brooklyn for the season by running past the Raptors. AP Photo by Mary Altaffer

Former Raptor Dennis Schroder burned his ex-teammates by scoring 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, including four free throws following Clowney’s heroics to seal the deal and send Brooklyn fans out of the building with hope for 2024-25.

“That’s a lot of blocked shots,” Schroder said of his young teammate. “He had so many shots, he just changed without getting a piece. As a rookie I was 18 ,19, he’s going to be special.”

Nets players took the time to exchange jerseys with fans following the win, which gave Brooklyn a 20-21 record on the Barclays hardwood.

“That’s the Brooklyn way. Gritty, but with a lot of style,” Ollie gushed.

Immanuel Quickley poured in a game-high 32 points and Gradey Dick added a career-best 24 for the Raptors (25-55), who led by as many as nine points before suffering their 17th loss in 19 games.

“Their length, their size vs our size, obviously we knew going into the game they had a couple of guys that are really good with that,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic told the Associated Press.

“We were able to get in the paint but not able to score.”

Nic Claxton returned from an ankle injury to register 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for the Nets, who held a 56-45 rebounding advantage en route to their sixth win in nine contests.

Cam Johnson scored 13 points off the bench despite battling a bothersome toe injury and Mikal Bridges added 11 for Brooklyn, which will finish off its first non-playoff campaign in six years at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks on Friday before visiting Philadelphia Sunday.

Kevin Ollie pointed the way to Brooklyn’s 20th and final home win of the season Wednesday night on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush. AP Photo by Mary Altaffer

NOTHING BUT NET: Bridges sat out the entire fourth quarter, but Ollie indicated after the game that it was not due to injury. … The Nets took three of four regular-season meetings from Toronto. … Thomas led Brooklyn in scoring for the eighth straight game. He has registered at least 20 points in each of those contests.