LOS ANGELES — The Nets’ loss Wednesday blew right past horrific to historic.
The biggest beating in team history.
One of the Top 10 worst routs in NBA history.
And in the end, a 126-67 thrashing at the hands of the Clippers at the glistening new Intuit Dome that has already become a house of horrors for Brooklyn.
It’s a result that will stick in the Nets’ craw.
Or at least it should.
“You just feel like you’re not doing your job, honestly,” said center Nic Claxton, who finished with two points on 1-of-7 shooting in 16:35 after being questionable with hamstring tightness. “We’ve all got a lot of pride, so we’ve just got to be better. And we can’t lose like this, though. Definitely can’t happen.”
Claxton was the only proven starter on the floor for Brooklyn, which has dropped six of its last seven. They played without leading scorer Cam Thomas, shooter Cam Johnson and point guards D’Angelo Russell and Ben Simmons.
“Damn, I don’t know if I ever lost by this much. It’s frustrating. It’s definitely frustrating. And I feel like we’ve been getting beat by a lot lately, if I’m being honest,” Claxton said. “But we’re getting some guys back, and we’ve just got to keep fighting. Have short-term memory.”
It was by far the most lopsided rout in Nets history. And it will surely be one of the most humbling in recent memory, even by the standards of a tanking team.
The Nets trailed by a mind-bending 64 points with 5 ½ minutes to play, on pace for the fourth-worst in NBA history. Only a late push saw them end up as tied for the 10th-worst — and got them past their lowest-scoring output in franchise history, the 62 points they were held to by Cavaliers on Jan. 28, 1997.
Of course the record was a 73-point loss by Oklahoma City in 2021, and the Thunder now are a league-best 33-6. But the Nets (14-27) are just starting their rebuild.
“This is not the time to point or deflect anything,” Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s time for everybody to own, and I will own first. The guys kept fighting; I don’t think that they quit. And it’s one of those days that you don’t do anything right, you don’t have that right energy and togetherness. But you try and you just need a little bit more focus and all these things.
“We’ve always fought through the end, cut leads, competed, and I am proud of this group of guys, and I know they’ll show up and work the next day. So, it’s all we can do right now is have a positive but also a competitive mindset where this has to hurt and you don’t want to be in this situation again.”
Jalen Wilson had 16 points, and Day’Ron Sharpe added 12 points and 14 boards.
“It was one of those games,” Sharpe said.
It was only fitting that the YES Network crew had to fill time and the discussion turned to the 1,400 toilets at Intuit Dome. The dad jokes write themselves.
The worst beating in Nets franchise history had been by 52 points at the hands of Houston on Oct. 18, 1978. That was back when they were the New Jersey Nets. The Clippers almost ran them back to Jersey on Wednesday night.
The Nets lost contact early and never fought back. They let the Clippers go on an extended 66-13 run to fall behind 90-38 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. The only drama in the fourth was merely to see how historically-bad this beating was going to get.
Kawhi Leonard had 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting and was a career-high plus-46 despite logging just 24 minutes. Those were more than enough.
Former Net star James Harden dominated his former team with 21 points and 11 assists. He had six dimes in the first half — as many as Brooklyn had as a team.
Noah Clowney got ejected for a second technical, typical of a frustrating night.
