Shorthanded Nets sputter early, Trail Blazers cruise to 114-95 win

C.J. Holmes, New York Daily News on Mar 16, 2026

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NEW YORK — The Nets fell behind immediately Monday night at Barclays Center, and that was that.

The Portland Trail Blazers opened on a 10-0 run, and Brooklyn never recovered in an 114-95 loss, its fourth straight. The Nets are 17-51 with 14 games left, and the final stretch is brutal.

Nic Claxton finally got the Nets on the board with 8:45 left in the first quarter, but the early stretch set the tone for a night that turned ugly fast. Brooklyn’s defense was porous, the offense looked disconnected, and the Nets didn’t have enough healthy bodies to survive another slow start.

The injury list, again, was lengthy. Michael Porter Jr. missed his third straight game with a right ankle sprain. Terance Mann and Noah Clowney were out. Egor Dëmin and Day’Ron Sharpe, both out for the remainder of the season, also remained sidelined. Head coach Jordi Fernández started Claxton, Nolan Traoré, Drake Powell, Ziaire Williams and Danny Wolf, and the first quarter told you where Brooklyn was.

Claxton was the only starter to score, finishing the period with five points.

Portland didn’t shoot great overall in the first quarter, hitting 40.7%, but it buried Brooklyn anyway by winning the shot-quality battle and drilling 3s. The Trail Blazers went 5-for-8 from deep, and Scoot Henderson came off the bench with nine points as Portland built a 20-point lead and took a 35-20 advantage into the second. Brooklyn shot 27.3% in the period and went 1-for-8 from 3-point range.

The Nets’ bench at least competed. Malachi Smith, E.J. Liddell, Ochai Agbaji, Chaney Johnson and Ben Saraf combined for 62 points, and Brooklyn’s reserves outscored Portland’s 15-11 in the first quarter. But Brooklyn’s available starters never found an offensive foothold, and the deficit kept growing as Portland’s depth continued to produce clean looks.

By halftime, the box score was as blunt as it gets. Brooklyn had 41 points, and 15 of them came at the free throw line. The Nets shot 65.2% at the stripe, but they couldn’t buy buckets anywhere else. They shot 30.8% overall through two quarters, had only two made 3-pointers and committed six turnovers.

Portland carried a commanding 65-41 lead into halftime with Henderson, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan and Kris Murray all already in double figures. Claxton and Johnson led Brooklyn at the break with eight points apiece.

Brooklyn opened the third with a 9-0 burst, the one stretch that hinted at a game. Jerami Grant answered by hitting his second 3-pointer of the night to push the lead back to 22, and the Nets’ defensive mistakes returned. Traoré fell asleep on the back line, leading to an easy Murray layup and a 24-point deficit, which forced Fernández into his first timeout of the half with 8:08 left in the third.

Claxton was still Brooklyn’s only player in double figures at that point.

Portland then slammed the door. The Trail Blazers responded with an 11-0 run to make it 80-52 with 5:41 left in the third, shot 52.6% in the period and carried a 26-point lead into the fourth. Two nights earlier, Philadelphia allowed Brooklyn to rally from 28 down and make things interesting late.

Portland didn’t allow anything close to that.

Brooklyn finished with 17 turnovers, shot 38.4% and allowed Portland to shoot 51.2%. Deni Avdija led seven Portland players in double figures with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. Johnson led the Nets with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Saraf scored a career-high 15 points with four assists.

Before the game, Fernández said Porter had done form shooting prior to the Nets’ previous game and that Monday was his first workout since the ankle sprain.

“He did form shooting before the last game that we played and today is going to be his first workout,” Fernández said. “So, let’s see how he feels after it’s getting better, and then we’ll assess.”

The Nets will be back at Barclays Center on Wednesday to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

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