Nets' rough road trip ends with a blowout loss to the Magic

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Nets started this four-game road trip with a dud in Toronto. It ended in similar fashion Tuesday against the Magic.

The Nets’ offense disappeared once again with a 108-81 loss at Kia Center. For the fourth time in five games, they scored 93 points or fewer and set yet another season-low in points scored.

It was also the third-fewest points scored in an NBA game this season. The lack of energy reminded of their last loss to end a back-to-back, the 50-point beatdown in Boston on Valentine’s day.

This didn’t get that ugly score-wise. But it was similar performance-wise as the Nets shot 39.2%, had a season-high 22 turnovers and didn’t cross 80 points until Keon Johnson’s free throws with 24.6 seconds remaining.

“Just assist-to-turnovers,” interim coach Kevin Ollie said, staring at the box score. “If we shared the basketball, did we take care of the basketball? We didn’t do either one of those tonight to try to get a win. So [18] assists and [22] turnovers is too many.”

With Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas out due to injury, the Nets (22-36) shot under 42% from the field for the third time in four games under Ollie. They also fell to 2-7 on the second game of back-to-backs and trailed by as many as 33 points to the Magic.

The Nets ended the road trip 1-3 with losses by 28, 15 and 27 point margins.

Just like in Toronto, the Nets were done in by poor defense and carelessness with the ball. Mikal Bridges had a turnover in the open court, with Franz Wagner stripping him and racing away for a slam. Nic Claxton caught the business end of a vicious poster dunk by Jalen Suggs in the third quarter.

The Nets trailed 33-25 after the first quarter and scored just 34 points over the next two periods, including 15 in the third. The Magic (33-26) pushed the lead to 31 points in the third quarter despite not having All-Star Paolo Banchero, who was out due to illness.

“We’ve just gotta be prepared,” said Claxton. “Tonight is inexcusable, and we gotta have our energy right from the jump. They came out and they were on 10 and we weren’t there.”

The Nets won the first two meetings with Orlando but were done in Tuesday by giving up 29 points on turnovers. The Magic also owned the paint with 56 points on 66.7% shooting.

Bridges missed his first seven field goals before scoring on a fast-break layup with 9:35 left in the third quarter. He had a season-low four points on just 2-for-14 shooting as the Magic made it tough for him to get open on pick-and-rolls.

Over his last three games, Bridges is just 2-for-25 on three-pointers, including 0-for-7 Tuesday.

“Just making it tough, blitzing and stuff,” Bridges said. “A couple of turnovers, trying to make the right play, but they was just trapping a little bit.”

Claxton had 10 points and five rebounds but Cam Johnson, who started after four games off the bench, had nine points on 4-of-10 shooting.

Dorian Finney-Smith had just three points and four rebounds in 22 minutes while Lonnie Walker had four points off the bench on 1-for-9 shooting.

The lone bright spot was Dennis Schroder shining in his second consecutive start. He had a team-high 15 points. However, he was overshadowed by his fellow German Franz Wagner, who led the Magic with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

The Nets also fell four games behind the 10th-place Hawks, who won Tuesday. The teams meet Thursday and Saturday at Barclays in what are crucial game for the Nets to make up ground for the final play-in tournament spot.

But after a rough road trip, the Nets are still figuring out how to jell under Ollie and solve their pre-existing issues.

“I think these are all learning lessons for us and hopefully we can get better from it and learn,” Ollie said.

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.