PHILADELPHIA — The Nets’ sorry season is finally over, mercifully put out of its misery Sunday at Wells Fargo Center.
The campaign ended how much of it went, with a lopsided defeat.
The Nets lost 107-86 to Philadelphia to cap their worst season in years.
Brooklyn finished 32-50, 11th in the Eastern Conference and out of even the play-in tournament.
“I wanted to make the playoffs. It’s been a while since I didn’t make the playoffs, so I’m a little disappointed with that,” Dorian Finney-Smith said. “But I’m just ready for the offseason, because I started the year off playing well, but I had an up-and-down season personally. So that’s all I can work on is myself. I’ve got to do better.”
The mark is the Nets’ worst since 2017-18, which was also the last time they failed to make the postseason.
“We’ve got potential. Got a lot of potential and we’ve got to unlock it. I think nobody comes and plans on having another season like this,” Noah Clowney said. “I think we learned from it, and we grow from it. But, how many losses we had? There’s too many. But I think we learned from it and grow from it, and we’ve got the potential to be a much better team than I think we just played.”
If they do, Clowney will likely play a role.
The 19-year-old rookie is the fourth-youngest player in the NBA, but has come on late and flashed potential in an otherwise dour year.
Playing alongside starting center Nic Claxton instead of backing him up, Clowney had 16 points, four rebounds and a block.
And over the final six games, he averaged 13.5 points, seven boards, 2.2 blocks and .471 shooting from deep to give at least a sliver of hope to Brooklyn fans.
A small sliver.
Cam Thomas, just 22 himself, led the Nets with 18 points.
Claxton, an unrestricted free agent, added six points and eight boards in a truncated 20-minute effort.
He fell four rebounds short of averaging a double-double.
And the Nets fell short of meeting their postseason goals.
“For sure, absolutely, because we have that type of chemistry, for sure,” said Lonnie Walker, another free agent who added 12 points. “But you live and you learn, you continue to grow. And that’s all you can ask for. I’m excited for the future for what the Nets behold and excited for my teammates as well.”
Mikal Bridges had eight points in 24:50, sitting a third straight fourth quarter.
But he played every game, and has gone 474 straight since entering the league.
“I want to mention Mikal just playing every game of the season, doing what he did this offseason,” interim coach Kevin Ollie said. “He’s just a wonderful human being to be around and to have that as an attribute to be always available is a great attribute, availability. And a lot of people don’t talk about that, but he played every game and that’s remarkable and hopefully that streak continues to live.”
