Bulls blow away Nets in second half

Brooklyn drops third straight in Windy City

December 3, 2024 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn coach Jordi Fernández watched his team fall apart defensively in the second half of Monday night's loss in Chicago. AP Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast

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The injuries are mounting, and so are the losses for the Brooklyn Nets.

Coach Jordi Fernández could care less.

He wants to see better results from whomever is available for duty, especially following Monday night’s humbling 128-102 defeat to the Chicago Bulls in front of 19,131 fans at the United Center.

“I don’t care who is playing. If they wear a Nets uniform, we’re going to go out there and we’re going to fight and compete and have a chance,” he insisted following Brooklyn’s season high-tying third straight loss.

The Nets (9-13) did have a chance before fatigue and a lack of firepower appeared to drain them of that opportunity following a feisty first half.

Despite missing Cam Johnson (ankle), Cam Thomas (hamstring), Ziaire Williams (knee), Noah Clowney (ankle) Ben Simmons (back and knee) and Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle), Brooklyn stayed with Chicago (9-13) for 24 minutes, trailing 56-50 at intermission.

Then, the Nets got Bull-rushed.

Josh Giddey led the Chicago stampede with his first triple-double of the campaign, putting up 20 points, ripping down 13 rebounds and handing out 11 assists as the Bulls used a 36-22 third quarter to pull away for good.

It didn’t get better thereafter as Chicago went up 117-88 on Ayo Dosunmu’s basket with 8:39 to play.

After winning three straight out west last week, the Nets returned to Brooklyn and dropped a pair to Orlando, including Sunday’s 100-92 setback at Barclays Center.

Fernández watched his team scratch and claw to the very last second of that contest, only two nights after a 123-100 to the Magic that eliminated the Nets from NBA Cup contention.

On Monday, he wasn’t pulling any punches when it came to giving his team a break for having only 10 healthy players available.

“Losing the second half by 20 is not good enough,” he fumed. “We have high standards or higher standards, the way that we work, the way that we compete. This was like, not good.

“They scored 56 in the first half and 72 in the second half. So our defense was bad,” he added.

Brooklyn has been hampered by injuries throughout the rookie coach’s first 22 games and has always appeared capable of responding.

Dariq Whitehead’s career-high 18 points weren’t enough to prevent the shorthanded Nets from sufferering their third straight loss in Chicago Monday. AP Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast

Following his team’s last three-game slide from Nov. 13-17, Fernández took his charges to task, even accusing them of going into “quit” mode during a 139-114 home loss to Boston.

He wouldn’t go that far following this defeat,

“If you go out and compete, I’ll tell them I’m proud of them,” Fernández noted. “But today, that second-half defense and overall second half, it cannot happen. Guys that are in uniform, they have to be better.”

One player was actually better than anyone could expect.

Logging minutes in just his fifth career NBA game, former first-round pick Dariq Whitehead put up a career-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.

The Duke alum spearheaded an attack that only managed to make 7-of-31 from beyond the arc without his efforts.

Brooklyn also gave up 21 points on 13 turnovers, was outscored by a whopping 62-40 margin in the paint and got outrebounded 54-41.

Even Whitehead’s breakout performance couldn’t take the sting out of the loss.

“He shot 10 3s and made six of them,” said Fernández. “He put the work in. He got healthy, so obviously I’m happy to see that. I wish that we got a win.

“It was a lack of competitiveness in the second half,” he added. “Twenty-one points off of 13 turnovers. It means every time you turn it over, you are allowing them to score.”

Dennis Schröder amassed 16 points and 10 assists, Tyrese Martin had 15 points, Shake Milton finished with 14 and Trendon Watford added 12 for Brooklyn, which will try to avert its fourth consecutive loss Wednesday vs. visiting Indiana at 7:30 p.m.

“We’re in a situation where we have, like, new lineups almost every game, right?” Fernandez reiterated.

“Those type of injuries, especially the ones that you cannot control, the sprained ankles or the knees, somebody flying into your knee, they just force us to have the next-man mentality.”

Nets reserve center Day’Ron Sharpe returned from a hamstring injury to make his season debut vs. the Bulls Monday night. AP Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast

NOTHING BUT NET: The Nets did get some good news on the injury front Monday. Day’Ron Sharpe made his much-anticipated season debut after sitting out with a hamstring injury since training camp. The reserve center scored four points — all from the free-throw line — grabbed two rebounds, handed out two assists and blocked a shot in 16 minutes. “Great attitude, great energy and it was great to see him on the court,” said Fernandez. “The more minutes he plays he’ll feel better. So great to have him back.” … The coach wouldn’t go too far into Johnson’s availability for Wednesday, but did seem to think his starting forward could return soon after being a game-time decision in Chicago. Johnson scored 26 points in Sunday’s loss to Orlando. “I’m not extremely concerned. … Right now, he’s a day to day,” Fernandez revealed. “He wanted to try to see how he was feeling, and he’s out. … We’ll see how he feels (Tuesday) and then we’ll go from there.” … After hosting the Pacers, the Nets will get a much-needed break, taking three days off before welcoming Milwaukee to Barclays on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.