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A sellout crowd packed Barclays Center to watch what might have been LeBron James’ last game in New York.
They saw King James give Brooklyn a royal thrashing.
The Nets got beaten 125-109 by James and his Lakers before a crowd of 18,248 on Tuesday night. And it wasn’t as close as the score would indicate.
This was yet another desultory performance by a team getting all too comfortable with getting blown out and bullied around.
“[The mission] is just to compete for 48 minutes from the first to the last possession,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “I think when we’ve done that, we’ve looked very competitive and good and we’ve gotten better. The moments when we haven’t done that, that’s not helping us grow. So that’s the challenge.”
Brooklyn (13-36) had already suffered a 54-point loss to the Knicks on Jan. 21 and a 53-point rout at the Pistons on Sunday, only the fourth team in NBA history with multiple 50-point losses in the same season. They had a 37-point caning at the Clippers sandwiched in between, just for good measure.
Tuesday they trailed by 39, before at least trying to make it respectable, rallying rather than wilting. But it was too little and far, far too late.
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Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Day’Ron Sharpe had season highs of 19 points, 14 boards and five assists off the bench, while Ziaire Williams added 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting in his return from injury.
“I thought the win in Utah was good; and then the game in Detroit, we’ve just got too [lackadaisical],” Porter said before the game. “With some of these teams that play a physical brand of basketball, we’ve got to be aware of how they play and really attack the game plan, know what they give up defensively and not play right into their hands.”
James — who has been in the league longer than most of Brooklyn’s starting lineup have been alive — was the one that looked young and spry. He had 25 points, seven assists, three steals and sailed in for several highlight dunks before checking out with 8:05 remaining to loud applause.
If it was the 41-year-old’s final competitive game in New York — and he hasn’t made any declarative statements about how long he’ll play — it was a solid one.
There was nothing solid about the Nets’ effort.
Brooklyn trailed by as much as 39, at 83-44 when Luka Doncic (24 points, six rebounds, five assists) hit from behind the arc with 8:08 left in the third.
It was 111-83 when James checked out.
The rest was garbage time, and a crowd filled with purple-and-gold-clad Lakers fans cheering for James’ son, Bronny, who scored a couple of late buckets that sent them into a frenzy.
Brooklyn kept pace with Washington, tied for fourth in the lottery odds.
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