NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets hosted the Sacramento Kings at Barclays Center on Thursday to face off for the second and final time this season and lost 101-96. The Kings win the regular-season series 2-0.
For the Nets, Mikal Bridges had 23 points and four rebounds while Spencer Dinwiddie had 18 points and seven assists. Nic Claxton had 14 points and 14 rebounds and Seth Curry had 14 points off the bench.
For the Kings, Domantas Sabonis had 24 points and 21 rebounds while De’Aaron Fox had 18 points and six rebounds. Malik Monk had 12 points off the bench and Harrison Barnes had 11 points.
In the first half, both teams played to a draw in the first quarter. Neither team shot well and it seemed like it was more just poor shooting than good defense. Sacramento pulled away from Brooklyn in the second quarter as the Kings ended the first half on a 13-0 run. The Nets could do nothing with Domantas Sabonis as he had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the first half.
In the second half, Brooklyn picked up its energy which allowed them to get back into the game thanks to the energy given by Yuta Watanabe and Edmond Sumner. Unfortunately, every time that the Nets got within striking distance, the Kings found a way to push the game back towards double-digits range. It seems like the end of the second quarter is what Brooklyn could not recover from.
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