3 Takeaways after Brooklyn Nets run out of ammo vs San Antonio Spurs
Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images
Another loss, another game without many if any redeeming values as the tank speeds up. The Brooklyn Nets were caught hanging upside down by the San Antonio Spurs this evening.
Flipped over by a season-high scoring night from Devin Vassell, the Nets dropped their fifth game in a row and the sixth of their first seven out of the All-Star break. Intended or not, it’s a stretch that’s reintroduced us to the “T” word, perhaps now for good.
While I don’t want to speak too soon for this team that’s proven itself unpredictable at every turn this year, it’s likely only going to get tougher for fans encouraging the team to push on for a Play-In spot. Of their next four opponents, two are top two teams in each conference. Their next also includes a guy who just lit up our neighbors across the river.
Still, the Nets have 31 games to go this year, and with that, plenty of time for the pendulum to swing back the other way. But tonight, it veered heavily in the direction most people expected it to coming into the season. Here’s what we learned.
New Backcourt is Making Progress
We went back to the future in the Lone Star State tonight with D’Angelo Russell and Cam Thomas making their first start together as Nets. As much of a spectacle as it was to see them standing beside each other, when the two players from two distinct Brooklyn eras united on the floor to begin things, it wasn’t half as productive as it was captivating.
For the third straight game, Brooklyn dug themselves in a hole to open up the contest. Thomas and Russell were caught red-handed with shovels, as Brooklyn started -7 with them on the floor before going +1 after both came off.
Luckily for Brooklyn’s new backcourt, shovels can also be used to dig your way back to the surface. Thomas and Russell accomplished that in the second, as the pair propelled Brooklyn on a 10-0 run after checking back, putting their team in front for the first time all night.
D'Angelo Russell back to kickstarting Brooklyn fast breaks. Thomas cans it here. Him and Dlo looking better together here in Q2. pic.twitter.com/1VpqkpiR90— Collin Helwig (@collinhelwig) March 5, 2025
Russell and Thomas on the floor together were +14 to begin that frame, changing the course of the contest largely through the fast break. Brooklyn’s shooters also starting the second 5-5 from deep after going 2-14 in the first certainly played a factor too.
Now, Devin Vassell going nuclear in the third regardless of who was out there essentially put the game to bed after that. Thomas and Russell combining for 16 points and five dimes in the second half was made a sideshow to Vassell’s 37-point symphony.
Devin Vassell is torching the Nets right now but nice play from Thomas and Watford here. CT gets Castle to bite on the fake. Dumps it to Watford who uses the space to penetrate and find an open Jalen Wilson. pic.twitter.com/ObtYNCX8Gr— Collin Helwig (@collinhelwig) March 5, 2025
Regardless, that first half still gave us some visible progress from Thomas and Russell, or in this case, our Marty McFly and Doc Brown.
The pair won’t have long to develop chemistry — and there’s no telling whether doing so will even be worth it in the long run with Russell set to enter free agency this summer. But for the fans wondering how this unlikely pairing of Brooklyn folk heroes will mesh purely for curiosity’s sake, tonight gave us something to build on.
Paint Defense is a Killer
Bismack Biyombo is seven years older than Nic Claxton and nine older than Day’Ron Sharpe. They, nor Father Time brought it tonight though, as Biyombo outscored them both by a 13-8 margin. The Spurs collectively beat the Nets down low by a 62-40 mark as well.
But although tonight was indeed a step back after two or three leaps forward from the Sharpe x Claxton tandem, they’re not totally liable for tonight’s atrocities down low. While paint play is a faction of the game often seen as synonymous with big men, there’s a lot more to it than that.
With almost every high San Antonio screen, Brooklyn blitzed either with Claxton or Johnson. It’s a strategy that often works, as the Nets are usually on time recovering to shade shooters or collapse inside. It’s exactly how they nearly topped Oklahoma City a week ago.
But tonight, they were a step behind. Claxton and Sharpe failed to get back into the paint to bottle things up one too many times. The guards, although likely due to the size rather than effort, struggled to supply enough pressure as a unit to bother San Antonio inside as well.
Yeah Tyrese Martin can't be the guy left in the paint if the Nets are going to blitz with Nic Claxton.CP3 beating the trap with Bismack Biyombo in 2025 is also crazy btw. pic.twitter.com/jmOEY1ZU93— Collin Helwig (@collinhelwig) March 5, 2025
Frankly, the Spurs also just had an absurdly quick and accurate trigger tonight, able to stretch out the defense and certain to render almost any game plan ineffective. San Antonio finished with 37 assists, clocking in as their third most in a game this season, on 52 made field goals.
When you pit that against a bottom five league offense, that’ll just about do it.
Dariq Whitehead is A-OK
Even for the Nets, it was rather out of the ordinary for the team to provide little-to-no updates on former first round pick Dariq Whitehead last week after the Duke product went down with a lower leg injury on Long Island. It was a bummer too, as Whitehead was fresh off a dandy that even included a game-winner.
30 PTS 8 3PM 11/17 FGDariq Whitehead scored a CAREER-HIGH and hit the game-winning three-pointer to give the @longislandnets a thrilling 122-119 victory over the Magic! pic.twitter.com/wjO23iSaxh— NBA G League (@nbagleague) February 23, 2025
But as the days passed following the injury, any fear that he might’ve suffered a major injury slowly but surely dissipated. Jordi Fernández referring it it as “minor” one day and the Nets tagging him with just “soreness” on the injury report the next each played a large part in that.
Tonight though, everyone got to full exhale. Whitehead was not only made active ahead of the contest but fielded a few garbage time minutes. He even buried a catch-and-shoot triple.
Dariq Whitehead three point shooting has looked great lately #NetsWorld pic.twitter.com/8A6FJk3XzD— Jeri Tsai (@JeriTsaiNets) March 5, 2025
What exactly Whitehead develops into for Brooklyn remains to be seen, even with what’s technically been his second year on the team now reaching its tail end. But whether you view him as a long term building block or just a guy trying to get healthy, seeing him out there tonight was a positive.
Yes, I’m only talking about two minutes of play here, but after your third-straight double-digit waxing, there are only so many “glass half full” things to pick out.
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