Nets tie franchise record with 45-point rout of Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Buck
It was a perfect night for the Nets, who rolled to a rout with every available rookie on the floor to enjoy a laugher.Brooklyn dominated Milwaukee, 127-82, Sunday night in a complete effort before 16,439 at Barclays Center.The win tied their biggest victory in franchise history, matching a 45-point rout of Washington on Jan.9, 1993.Jordi Fernandez wasn’t among them, the Nets head coach was out sick with the flu.But an effort like this from his young team likely buoyed his spirits, leading by as much as 45 and having four of their record five first-round picks on the floor late when they held the Bucks scoreless for six straight minutes.All five Brooklyn starters cracked double-figures for the second time this season.
They were led by Egor Dëmin, after the lottery pick had been chastised by Fernandez on Friday in Dallas for sloppy, ill-advised mistakes.The Russian teen bounced back with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting.He even had three strong drives to the rim, and played feisty defense with two steals, a block and finishing a plus-20.With assistant Steve Hetzel stepping in for Fernandez, the Nets improved to 7-18 and have now won four out of their last six.Of worth noting to the pro-tank crowd, Brooklyn is just 1-14 against winning teams but now 6-4 against losing ones.
That’s relevant, because with so many teams tanking this season, they will face plenty of sorry ones the rest of the way.The Nets stayed sixth in the lottery standings, a game ahead of victorious Charlotte.Noah Clowney had 16 points and Brooklyn shot 52.9 percent, while smothering the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Bucks to just 39.2.Brooklyn was up just 19-18 after Myles Turner’s free throw with 5:19 left in the first.That’s when they put together an extended 26-9 run that spanned the first and second quarters, and blew the game open.By the time Danny Wolf got inside for a layup eight minutes later, the rookie had padded Brooklyn’s cushion to 45-27 with 9:15 left in the first half.
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