Slow Start Costs Nets in 126–117 Loss to Suns

The Brooklyn Nets fell to the Phoenix Suns 126-117 on Monday night, as they've lost 10 of their last 12 games.

Dillon Brooks led the Suns with 27 points on 8-of-15. shooting and five rebounds. Devin Booker added 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting, four rebounds, and four assists. Collin Gillespie chipped in 22 points on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting with five rebounds and five assists.

Michael Porter Jr. provided 23 points on 10-of-23 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals for the Nets.

The Suns got off to a fast start in the game, outscoring the Nets 40-26 in the first quarter. However, the Nets showed signs of life at various points of the game, especially in the second quarter.

Ziaire Williams got baited by an up-and-under from Brooks with 3:32 left in the second quarter, wasting a solid defensive effort on his former teammate.

That clearly ignited Ziaire Williams, amping up his defensive intensity and pressuring ball handlers.

"I think that Z played with incredible energy and that was contagious and that was the reason why, a main reason why we came back," Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. "I don't care about that foul. I don't care about any other fouls, because he's been picking up full court, he's been aggressive. He always leads us in deflections, so he just gives us that positive energy that we all need. It was good to see him back on the court."

Overall, the Nets had incredible difficulty defending the 3-point line and allowed the Suns to shoot several shots early in the shot clock.

Even if the Suns missed a shot, Mark Williams was there to clean up the mess and get easy looks inside.

"Right now, it's not finishing possessions and not getting back, Fernandez said. "They've made 3s in transition, and they've made 3s out of second chance. Other than that, I think that if every time we control the fastbreak or the transition defense is good. And every time that we rebound, we win games."

Against a Suns team with playoff aspirations, the biggest thing the Nets can take away from this game at this point is that they were able to erase big deficits and make the game competitive in the final minutes of the contest, especially in the second half of a back-to-back set in which they were traveling back from Chicago after facing the Bulls.

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