The Brooklyn Nets looked very good at times Friday night in their Summer League opener, but turnovers defined their 96-92 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Brooklyn Nets arrived in Las Vegas with a veteran-laden roster for the NBA Summer League, but that experience didn’t stop the Nets from falling under an avalanche of turnovers en route to a 96-92 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.
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The Nets (0-1) have now lost seven consecutive games in Las Vegas during Summer League play after going 0-5 last year and finishing with a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017.
In the category of utterly irrelevant information, Brooklyn’s last Summer League win was an 85-74 triumph over the Denver Nuggets on July 13, 2017.
With a flurry of roster moves expected to begin Saturday after the NBA lifts the annual moratorium on transactions, Summer League isn’t quite the priority for fans it might have been in the past, as the Nets aren’t expected to have more than one or two roster spots available come training camp.
Dallas (1-0) broke out to a 14-point lead late in the first half before holding a 50-39 edge at the break, but a big third quarter brought Brooklyn back into the game.
The Nets led twice in the third period before going to the quarter break down 75-73 and they led for several possessions in the middle of the fourth quarter before the turnover bug came back to finish them off.
Dallas didn’t have a particularly strong game shooting the ball, hitting just 43.8 percent (35-for-80) overall while making 11-of-30 from deep (36.7 percent). But Brooklyn’s 22 turnovers led to 27 points for the Mavericks, who surrendered only 12 points off their 16 miscues.
The Nets shot 44.9 percent (31-for-69) overall, but struggled from deep, hitting 8-of-28 (28.6 percent)
Jarrett Allen‘s status was up in the air because of a right thumb injury, but the two-year veteran wound up starting and playing 29 minutes, leading Brooklyn with 19 points to go with eight rebounds and three blocks.
Rodions Kurucs, Theo Pinson and Josh Gray — who started at point guard after playing in South Korea last season — scored 14 points each for the Nets and Dzanan Musa tossed in 12. No. 56 overall selection Jaylen Hands had eight rebounds and Pinson went for six assists.
But Pinson also turned the ball over six times and Allen gave it up four times, as both players were guilty of attempting to throw long, lazy cross-court passes on multiple occasions. That got Dallas’ transition game going.
Antonius Cleveland paced the Mavericks with 22 points, NBA veteran Cameron Payne added 18, Daryl Macon tossed in 16, Shayne Wittington scored 11 and second-round pick Isaiah Roby had 10. Japanese guard Yudai Baba had six rebounds and Josh Reaves dished five assists.
Payne had a strong defensive game, drawing a couple of charges and finishing with three steals, while Baba also had three thefts. Roby and Dyshawn Pierre each had two blocks.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.