The Nets look road-weary, and they haven’t even started their road trip yet.
The sagging, banged up Nets were barely competitive Wednesday night, falling to the Pistons, 113-98.
They trailed by double digits for the bulk of the second half and never led after a brief 32-31 edge with 10:00 left in the second quarter.
Noah Clowney did his part, scoring a career-high 29 on 9-for-20 shooting from the floor — including 5-for-11 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. No one else contributed more than 14 points.
The defeat is the third straight in a three-game homestand before the team embarks on a six-game road trip over 10 days — including two games scheduled in fire-ravaged L.A. next week.
The Nets are heavily depleted, and played without four starters — Cam Thomas (hamstring), Cam Johnson (ankle), D’Angelo Russell (shin), Ben Simmons (lower back management) — and also recently hot Day’Ron Sharpe due to illness.
They stayed within striking distance in the third quarter, the deficit bouncing between 10 and 12 points before Detroit pulled away in the final frame, outscoring the Nets 32-21 as the arena emptied early.
Ravaged by injury and also missing some star players who were traded before the deadline, head coach Jordi Fernandez said beforehand he wanted his newly appointed starters to make the opportunity minutes “meaningful.”
“I’m never going to think like, ‘I wish I had the full team,’ ” he said. “I mean, I want to have all the guys healthy and back, but the reality is right now we have the bodies that we have. We have to have good, positive energy, and be excited to play basketball and that’s what all I can focus on right now. Use the guys that we have and don’t think about the ones that we don’t have.”
The young Nets certainly competed, improving their numbers on the boards (38) against the Pistons (42) and their free-throw percentage (90.5) from the last meeting.
And they even found some glimmering hope to break the 10-point barrier during the third quarter. After a Johnson jumper and Noah Clowney dunk off of a steal by Ziaire Williams from Tobias Harris, the Nets were within 70-64.
However, it was short-lived, as Cade Cunningham woke up after just five points in the first half, scoring eight in the frame. And following a layup from Harris, a Ronald Holland layup off a Williams turnover and jumper from Cunningham on consecutive possessions, the Pistons were back up by 12 points that only bled into their commanding 21-point lead to start the fourth, 91-70.
The Nets never got within striking distance again, and the 15 turnovers for 20 points and a tough shooting night of 38.4 percent kept things in Detroit’s favor.
After Clowney’s 29, the Nets were led by Nic Claxton with 14 points and Tosan Evbuomwan with 13. Tyrese Martin added 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Williams scored 11.
The Pistons were paced by Malik Beasley (23) followed by Simone Fontecchio (17) and Marcus Sassar (15) — both off the bench.
The first quarter saw just two lead changes while the Nets stayed within 10 points of the Pistons, pulling even at 23-23 after Clowney nailed a 3-pointer and two free throws from a flagrant 1 foul by Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart.
The Pistons reached a 14-point lead in the second quarter, but the Nets didn’t let them crawl too far away.
After going scoreless for nearly five minutes, a Jalen Wilson layup, four points from Evbuomwan, and Reece Beekman’s jumper, the Nets were able to close the half within 10.
