Nets win tank war vs. Wizards, but keep focus on development with 4 games left
NEW YORK — Sunday’s Brooklyn Nets-Washington Wizards game at Barclays Center looked exactly like what it was on paper: two teams deep in the lottery, playing a late-season matchup with more draft implications than standings relevance. The Nets still treated it like a normal work day. Brooklyn beat Washington 121-115, picked up its 19th win and slipped in the lottery picture, falling into third place after what amounted to a tank war in plain sight.
The Wizards dressed eight available players. The Nets had 10. Brooklyn was missing Ben Saraf, Terance Mann, Noah Clowney, Nic Claxton, Ziaire Williams, Michael Porter Jr.
, Danny Wolf, Egor Dëmin and Day’Ron Sharpe. Washington was without Justin Champagnie, Tristan Vukcevic, Tre Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly, Trae Young, Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Cam Whitmore. That’s the environment Nets coach Jordi Fernández has been navigating all season, and it’s also why he keeps returning to the same message when the record stops being the headline.
“I’ve always told the players from the first week that I was here that winning starts now,” Fernández said. “And for a lot of people, winning means different things. You can see a win on the standings — that’s a win for some.
Development can be a win. Real minutes in the NBA can be a win. ” The point, Fernández said, is that Brooklyn isn’t treating these games like something to simply get through.