Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from tough loss at San Antonio

3. Things got a little batty at times

The game between the Brooklyn Nets and San Antonio Spurs was filled with oddities, starting with the 3½-minute delay midway through the first quarter when several bats were loose in the arena and flying around the floor.

The Nets did not handle the bat delay well, turning the ball over on their first four possessions after the unexpected break.

The strangeness didn’t end there, however.

Late in the first half, San Antonio’s Davis Bertans was forced to leave the game after being elbowed near his left eye while rebounding a missed free throw.

The battle for the rebound that left Bertans wounded was with teammate DeMar DeRozan, who inadvertently clocked his teammate while trying to get the ball away from him.

Not to be outdone, Brooklyn Nets center Jarrett Allen briefly knocked teammate Treveon Graham out of the game, smacking Graham in the face with his shoulder while trying to come over to help defend DeRozan.

Throw in that it was DeRozan’s first game back after missing three games with a sore left knee and one could be led to conclude that all the strangeness at AT&T Center was somehow DeRozan’s doing.

Or it could just be part of the package when playing in a building that has been a bit of a house of horrors for the Nets, who are now 0-16 at AT&T Center in the regular season and 1-18 including the playoffs, with the lone win coming June 6, 2003, in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

The Nets have also lost seven in a row overall to the Spurs and fell to 4-42 in San Antonio since the two franchises came into the NBA together from the old American Basketball Association in 1976.