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Brooklyn Nets: Five Worst Games of the 2016-17 Season

By Christian Milcos

Dec 18, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) dives to keep the ball in play during the fourth quarter of the game against the Brooklyn Nets at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers won the game 108-107.Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 18, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) dives to keep the ball in play during the fourth quarter of the game against the Brooklyn Nets at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers won the game 108-107.Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 23, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) drives to the basket against Brooklyn Nets forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (24) during the first half at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 119-99. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 23, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) drives to the basket against Brooklyn Nets forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (24) during the first half at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 119-99. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

4. Dec. 23: 119-99 Loss to Cavaliers

This final score of this game is a bit deceiving. You might be sitting there asking yourself: aren’t the Nets supposed to lose to Cleveland by 20? While this is true, the beatdown Brooklyn endured in the early stages of this contest was something that should not happen in any game between two professional basketball teams.

For the first three quarters of this contest, the Nets were flat out obliterated. The fourth quarter, which saw a majority of the Cavs rotation players on the bench, was the sole respectable stretch of this game, as Brooklyn outscored Cleveland 42-21.

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However, the rest of the night was unbearable for Nets fans. After the third quarter buzzer sounded, Brooklyn trailed by a whopping 41 points. If the Cavs had maintained this margin throughout the final quarter, it would have been marked as the fifth worst loss in franchise history.

One of the biggest mistakes made in this contest was the defensive assignments. Instead of putting a proven defender, such as Rondae Hollis-Jefferson on LeBron James, Atkinson opted to have Bojan Bogdanovic defend the four-time MVP. James finished with 19 points in 27 minutes. He was also able to completely shut down Bogdanovic on the other end of the court, as the Croatian posted zero points on 0-of-5 shooting from the field in 20 minutes.

If not for a handful of garbage time buckets from Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie, this game could’ve been one for the record books.