The Brooklyn Nets (17-51) looked like they were a team that wouldn’t be easily deterred by going down big after coming back from a 28-point deficit in Saturday’s 107-105 loss at the Philadelphia 76ers. Brooklyn is still dealing with some crucial injuries to finish the 2025-26 NBA season, but it appears that the Portland Trail Blazers (33-36) were just too much for them to handle.
The Nets lost to the Trail Blazers 114-95 despite cutting their 31-point deficit to 91-76 with 9:13 left to play in the fourth quarter thanks to some improved shooting. Two-Way forward Chaney Johnson led the team with 17 points and nine rebounds while rookie guard Ben Saraf had 15 points and four assists coming off the bench as the backup point guard.
Brooklyn did not begin this game on the right foot as they quickly fell behind 15-2 with 7:29 left to play in the first quarter and from that point on, the Nets were playing catch-up. Center Nic Claxton returned to the lineup to drop 12 points and 11 rebounds in 20 minutes, but Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan was just too much for the Nets to contain in the paint.
Clingan, who finished the contest with 14 points and 11 rebounds, was one of seven Portland players that scored in double figures, led by Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara, who each had 18 points. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has maintained that the remainder of this season will be spent evaluating as many players as possible and he stayed true to that with all 11 players who saw the floor against the Trail Blazers playing at least 18 minutes.
While Brooklyn is going to play their four rookies as much as possible to end the season, Saraf and Danny Wolf (eight points, five rebounds, four assists, and two blocks) stood out compared to Nolan Traore and Drake Powell. The good news for the Nets is that they’re continuing to play hard no matter what the score of the game is and they’ll get ready for Wednesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder following Monday’s loss to the Trail Blazers.
Chaney Johnson Shines As The Backup Center
Johnson has been seeing playing time ever since the Nets were officially eliminated from postseason contention and he has been solid basketball in place of Day’Ron Sharpe. In Monday’s loss to the Trail Blazers, Johnson came close to his first double-double as a pro with 17 points and nine rebounds and it looks like he’s getting more comfortable playing at the center spot as the games go on.
Ben Saraf Showing More Aggression On The Offensive End
Like Johnson, Saraf has been seeing more playing time as this season comes to a close, especially with fellow rookie Egor Demin being out for the rest of the season due to injury. Saraf has had his fair share of issues over the course of this campaign, but his performance against Portland on Monday was encouraging due to how aggressive he was attacking the basket and using his vision to find his teammates for easy scores.
Tyson Etienne Making An Impact
Etienne has sparingly seen time throughout the course of this season as he has spent the majority of his time in the G League, but he has started to come on as of late. Etienne is averaging 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 33.3% from three-point land over his last two games, showing that he is benefitting from the extra playing time at the NBA level.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: 3 Nets takeaways from 114-95 loss to the Trail Blazers
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
