The undermanned Nets have now played 31 games this season, and first-year coach Jordi Fernandez already has employed 16 different starting lineups.
Brooklyn impressively has pulled out just enough wins to keep hanging around the play-in cutoff as the new year approaches, but the Nets were not able to hold off Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs on Friday night, falling 96-87 at Barclays Center.
Starters Cam Johnson (hip contusion) and Ben Simmons (lower back maintenance) joined leading scorer Cam Thomas (hamstring) out of the Nets lineup.
Veteran guard Shake Milton made his first start of the season after scoring 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s comeback win in Milwaukee.
He contributed 16 points and a career-high 12 ᴀssists, but the Nets committed 18 turnovers to slip to 12-19 ahead of Sunday’s game in Orlando.
“I felt good. It’s not an easy job doing what the team is asking you to do sometimes,” said Milton, who turned the ball over only once. “Picking up 94 [feet defensively] and then handling the rock and trying to get guys in the right spot.
“But everyone’s unselfish, everyone plays their role, and I just tried to step up and help the team however I could.”
After registering 42 points with 18 rebounds and four blocked sH๏τs in a Christmas loss to the Knicks at the Garden, Wembanyama netted 15 of his 19 points after halftime.
Former St. John’s standout Julian Champagnie added 18 off the bench for San Antonio (16-15).
“It definitely makes things a lot tougher knowing you got a guy as big as [Wembanyama] is in the paint,” said Keon Johnson, who scored 15 of his career-high 25 in the fourth quarter. “We knew within our game plan if we got two feet in the paint, the spray-outs would be there. We took advantage of it, but it’s just hard with a guy that big in the paint trying to get around him for rim attempts.”
Dorian Finney-Smith returned after missing three games with a calf issue, but he managed just two points in 27 minutes.
Milton has been among those playing regularly and contributing amid a rash of injuries and especially since the trade of point guard Dennis Schroder earlier this month to the Warriors.
Milton and Keon Johnson were deployed as the starting backcourt, with Simmons also sitting out on the tail end of back-to-back games for maintenance on his balky lower back.
Wembanyama threw down a dunk in the opening minute, but the 7-foot-3 French wunderkind was outscored by Claxton 6-2 in the opening session as the Nets grabbed a 22-11 lead through 12 minutes.
The Spurs missed 21 of 25 field-goal attempts in the period and only avoided being held to single digits when Keldon Johnson sank a midcourt sH๏τ at the buzzer.
It still marked the fewest points Brooklyn has allowed in any quarter this season and their lowest first-quarter total since also holding the Hornets to 11 in April 2021.
The Spurs posted the first nine points and opened with a 14-2 spurt, however, to take a one-point lead barely three minutes into the second quarter.
Champagnie pumped in 10, including three 3-pointers, in the period as the sides were knotted at 41 at intermission.
Wembanyama went inside-outside for a two-handed dunk and corner-3 for a one-point edge early in the third, and then he drained two more long-range buckets to help extend the Spurs’ advantage to 74-62 heading into the final quarter and to 17 early in the fourth.
“I think those three 3s that Wemby made right there shifted the game a little bit,” Fernandez said. “Special players make tough sH๏τs, and that’s the reality of this business.“But proud of the guys because we’re down 17, we keep fighting, and we ended up down nine, still with more possessions.
