Brooklyn Nets: Player grades from loss at Milwaukee to close out 2018

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The Brooklyn Nets lost their final game of 2018 on Saturday, dropping a 129-115 decision to the bombs-away Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

The Brooklyn Nets closed out the 2018 portion of their schedule with a loss to the team with the best record in the NBA, dropping a 129-115 decision to the Milwaukee Bucks, who tied a Nets franchise record for 3-pointers made and set one for long-range attempts.

Milwaukee (25-10) was 21-for-51 from deep on Saturday, tying the mark of 21 made 3s against the Nets set by the Houston Rockets on Jan. 15, 2017, and breaking the mark of 50 attempts set by the Rockets on Nov. 27, 2017.

Brook Lopez, the Nets’ all-time leading scorer, exacted some more revenge against his old team, scoring 24 points while canning 7-of-15 from deep.

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In three games since being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in June 2017, Lopez has scored 77 points against Brooklyn, hitting 16-of-29 from 3 in the process.

The Nets (17-21) rested starting point guard D’Angelo Russell and backup center Ed Davis on the back end of a rugged road back-to-back that included a 5 p.m. Eastern tip in Milwaukee the day after a regular night game against the Charlotte Hornets.

Russell was the last Net who had started every game, while Davis had appeared in each of Brooklyn’s first 37 contests. Their absences leave Jared Dudley and Spencer Dinwiddie as the last players on the roster who have appeared in every game.

The Nets started Dinwiddie in place of Russell, but wound up playing their reserves more than the starting unit on Saturday, including season-high minutes loads for deep-bench reserves Shabazz Napier, Kenneth Faried and two-way contract holder Theo Pinson.

Milwaukee built up a 26-point lead midway through the third quarter before the Brooklyn reserves chipped away at it, getting the margin down to seven in the fourth period before the Bucks went on an 8-0 run to put the game away.

The Nets shot much better in Milwaukee than they did in Charlotte, hitting 48.1 percent (38-for-79) overall and 15-of-35 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range.

It was some very different player groupings for Brooklyn on Saturday as they ended the calendar year with an 8-10 road record while going 9-11 at home.

Their 9-6 mark in December marked the Nets’ first winning record in a full month since they were 9-7 in March 2015 and they had more wins this month than they did in October and November combined (eight).

Here are the player grades from a pretty strange game.