Nets lose 5th straight to Nuggets, but bench play deserves praise

The Nets‘ starting five came out flat against the Denver Nuggets on Friday at Barclays Center, as they did in Wednesday’s loss to the Knicks. Brooklyn was on pace for its third consecutive blowout loss as well, until head coach Jacque Vaughn made his first pair substitutions of the game with 6:17 left in the first quarter.

Trailing Denver 18-7, Cam Thomas and Nic Claxton went out, Dorian Finney-Smith and Day’Ron Sharpe came in. The Nets immediately went on a 12-4 run and their energy and execution improved almost instantly. Dennis Smith Jr., back from a seven-game absence, and Royce O’Neale checked in about two minutes later and the vibes remained immaculate.

Closing the first quarter with a lineup comprising mostly reserves, all of the sudden the game was tied at 28 entering the second.

The tremendous impact of Finney-Smith, Sharpe, Smith and O’Neale off the bench in Friday’s 122-117 loss can be summed up to a single sequence. With 11:27 left in the first half, Smith drove to the basket, drew two defenders then dished it off to Claxton — who finished with a game-high 16 rebounds — for an easy dunk. Smith forced a turnover moments later and tossed it up the floor to O’Neale, who then found Finney-Smith in the left corner for a 3-pointer that gave the Nets a 33-28 lead.

While it still was not enough to avoid a fifth straight loss — and second to the defending NBA champions in nine days — the effort of Brooklyn’s reserves will give Vaughn plenty to think about tonight ahead of Saturday’s game against the Detroit Pistons.

Finney-Smith, Sharpe, Smith and O’Neale combined for 47 points on 16-of-30 shooting with 13 assists and two turnovers in the loss. All four reserves who played finished positive in plus/minus while all five starters were negative. Finney-Smith, who went 4-of-5 from deep, was a team-best plus-13 in 30 minutes.

Sharpe, a plus-2 in 19 minutes off the bench, recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Smith was plus-9 in 19 minutes and O’Neale was plus-7 in 22 minutes.

The Nets’ reserves outscored Denver’s 47-23. And as Vaughn continues to chew over how he wants minutes distributed, while taking the team’s recent slow starts into account, perhaps more opportunities will be given to the guys who play with great energy from the opening tap going forward. Because tonight it was the reserves who set the tone.

Brooklyn will face the struggling Detroit Pistons twice in the next four days.