The Brooklyn Nets came up short in their 119-110 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. Much of the focus was placed on Kyrie Irving making his home debut, but it wasn’t enough to get a win.
Early on, the Nets held somewhat of an advantage. After holding a 32-26 lead at the end of the first quarter, Brooklyn was outscored in each of the remaining periods in this game.
The Nets were coming off a 110-95 win over the Miami Heat on Saturday, but after arriving in New York at 3 a.m. to play on the second night of a back-to-back, it seemed there wasn’t quite enough left in the tank.
“First I was trying to get enough sleep last night. Landing at 3 a.m. and not going to bed until 6, so I was just trying to ground myself as much as possible today and just prepare for the warm reception in front of a lot of supporters of the organization and me, just the journey thus far,” Irving said. “I don’t take it for granted what happened tonight. It was historic. I was grateful I had a chance to be out there with my brothers and just leave it all out there.”
With the Nets entering with a 39-35 record and the Hornets being 38-36, it was an important game to achieve a win for both sides. Now, Charlotte holds the tie-breaker and is in position for the eighth spot despite both teams being eight games back from the first-seed Boston Celtics.
Here are the player grades following the loss to the Hornets: