Nets allow 25 three-pointers in loss to Kings
Nets guard Cam Thomas shoots over Kings guard Kevin Huerter in the second half of an NBA game in Sacramento, Calif., on Monday. Credit: AP/José Luis Villegas
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An easy bet would’ve been to expect the Nets and Kings to rain three-pointers Monday night. Both rank in the NBA’s top five for made threes per game.
The Nets, however, took the three-point shootout to the wrong extreme in their 131-118 loss at Golden1 Center. The Kings made a franchise-record 25, the most the Nets have allowed this season, in 45 attempts.
Five Kings made at least three three-pointers, led by De’Aaron Fox going 5-for-10.
“They hit a lot of threes. Obviously you’re trying to slow down Fox and make them shoot tough middies and all that, but today they got up a lot of threes and made 25,” Cam Johnson said.
It didn’t matter that the Nets (12-10) shot 48.3% on three-pointers, going 14-for-29. As Johnson noted, they settled for too many mid-range jumpers and had 16 fewer three-point attempts than the Kings (13-8), who shot 55.6% from long range.
Instead of the Nets slowing down Fox, he had 29 points and eight assists. His five threes shared the team high with Trey Lyles, who was 5-for-6 beyond the arc.
The Nets were a step behind as they trailed the entire game. They had just two fast-break points to the Kings’ 15 and couldn’t rotate fast enough on the Kings’ shooters. As a result, the Kings had 38 assists to the Nets’ 23.
Kings center Domantas Sabonis had nine assists and was one shy of a triple-double as he had 15 points and 16 rebounds.
"They have a point guard and a big who are both decision-makers who will draw attention, and on a night where they're making shots, you know those assists start to add up,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. “So you give them credit for making shots.”
The loss snapped the Nets’ three-game winning streak. They fell to 5-8 against teams at .500 or better.
The Nets got within six during a 14-3 rally in the fourth quarter in which Mikal Bridges made three three-pointers. They trailed 110-104, but after a three-pointer by Harrison Barnes, the Kings went on an 11-0 run and weren’t threatened again.
It was similar to when the Nets got within 71-67 in the third quarter after a three-pointer by Cam Thomas. The Kings rattled of 17-7 run that included threes by Fox and Barnes and a pair by Keegan Murray.
“They was backbreakers,” Dorian Finney-Smith said of the long-range shots. “They put us in a lot of rotations and we just got to make that second and third rotation at a high level consistently.”
Five Nets scored in double figures, led by Bridges’ 22 points. Thomas had 20 points despite shooting 8-for-21 from the field and Spencer Dinwiddie added 18 points.
Johnson had 15 points and Finney-Smith added 13 points off the bench.
Murray (24 points) was 4-for-4 on threes and Malik Monk was 4-for-7 from outside the arc as he had 21 points off the bench.
The lone saving grace for the Nets came near the end when forward Harry Giles III checked in. Giles, who spent three seasons with the Kings, received warm applause from the fans.
Yet that applause was later replaced by cheers of “Light The Beam” in honor of the Kings’ recent postgame tradition. The Nets could only listen as they were already swallowed by an avalanche of threes that got their five-game road trip off to a bad start.
“When the other team is shooting threes and we continue to shoot middies, then that becomes a problem if that ball isn't going in,” Vaughn said. “There's other ways to get around from shooting those and it takes some perseverance and it takes some multiple efforts on the offensive end and we'll get there.”
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
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