Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from late loss to 76ers

The instinct is to blame DeMarre Carroll for costing the Brooklyn Nets a chance at a potential game-tying/winning shot in the closing second.

The stat sheet indicates Carroll’s pass was intercepted by Ben Simmons, thus ending the game.

But the Nets executed so poorly on that out-of-bounds play that Carroll had two choices — take the five-second call because no one got open or try some sort of desperation pass to someone in a black uniform … because no one got open.

Coach Kenny Atkinson has a reputation for putting together good sets out of timeouts, but Brooklyn’s final play of the game — with five smalls on the floor — was a hot mess.

Without a big on the floor, there was no one to set a good pick to get a shooter loose and instead it really appeared there were four guys milling around aimlessly.

Hard to blame Carroll for that.

Otherwise, he had a solid, if unspectacular, outing. He worked the defensive board well and knocked down his only shot.

There are games when Shabazz Napier enters for the Brooklyn Nets and is like a shot of adrenaline, scoring at will and being a pest on defense.

Sunday was not one of those games. His lone bucket when he blew by T.J. McConnell late in the shot clock was a thing of beauty, but otherwise he didn’t have the spark.

Coach Kenny Atkinson has developed a pretty good feel for when Napier is on and when he’s not and responds with the hook accordingly.