NEW YORK — Thursday was fan appreciation night at Barclays Center. They didn’t have much to cheer about. The young, short-handed Nets struggled to keep up with the Atlanta Hawks from start to finish, losing 133-109 in a game in which they never led and trailed by as many as 32 points.
Jalen Wilson paced the Nets with 20 points off the bench, and Drew Timme added 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in his seventh career game, becoming the only rookie in the NBA this season to post a 10/10/5 game as a reserve. However, Brooklyn committed 19 turnovers, which gifted the Hawks 33 points, and also allowed the visitors to shoot 57.1% for the game.
Cam Johnson (lower back contusion), D’Angelo Russell (right ankle sprain) and Day’Ron Sharpe (right knee sprain) — two starters and a quality reserve center — didn’t play.
Brooklyn, which has the sixth-best NBA draft lottery odds with two games left, fell to 26-54 with the loss. Just ahead of it in the lottery race are the Philadelphia 76ers, who have the fifth-best odds at 24-56. If Philadelphia wins its final two games against Atlanta and the Chicago Bulls, it will end the season tied with the Nets for the fifth-best odds.
The fifth-worst record in the NBA has a 42.1% chance at a top-4 pick and a 10.5% at the No. 1 overall pick, which is widely projected to be Duke’s Cooper Flagg. The sixth-worst record in the league has a 37.2% chance at a top-4 pick and a 9% chance at the No. 1 overall pick.
Rookie forward Zaccharie Risacher, who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Hawks last year even though the team had only a 3% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick, dropped 38 points on 15-for-20 shooting (6-for-11 shooting from 3-point range) in 35 minutes.
Trae Young added 24 points and 12 assists in 31 minutes.
Thirteen of Risacher’s points came in the first quarter, when Atlanta jumped out to a 10-1 lead and took a 33-14 advantage into the second quarter. He had 23 points through two quarters, which helped the Hawks to a 69-45 advantage at halftime.
The Hawks won the third quarter 34-29 to take a 103-74 lead into the final frame. Brooklyn won the fourth quarter 35-30, but it didn’t matter too much in the end.
Atlanta finished with 66 points in the paint and 32 points in transition.
The Nets will play their final road game of the season on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.
