Brooklyn Nets lose to Mavericks, continue tanking strategy

The Brooklyn Nets suffered a heavy loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, losing 120-101. The game was played at Barclays Center in front of 16,434 fans. Brooklyn never took the lead and fell behind by as many as 22 points. This defeat ended a streak of ten straight games decided by single digits for the Nets. They had lost eight of those close games. With this loss, the Nets now hold a record of 23-49 and moved half a game above the Philadelphia 76ers in the lottery standings. The Nets played without their injured point guard, D’Angelo Russell, which affected their game. They struggled with ball handling and were outscored 31-14 in points off turnovers. Nic Claxton was the leading scorer for Brooklyn with 19 points, while Cam Johnson added 17 points. The game did not start well for the Nets. They quickly fell behind, trailing 21-8 early on. Despite a brief rally in the second quarter, the Nets could not keep up. They continued to struggle with turnovers, allowing the Mavericks to pull further ahead. By the end of the third quarter, Brooklyn was down 94-72, and the remainder of the game was mostly uneventful.