Nets’ momentum comes to crashing halt with ugly loss to bottom-feeding Pistons

The Nets’ first three-game winning streak under Jordi Fernandez is going to have to wait. 

Coming off back-to-back wins and facing the lowly Pistons, the Nets had a golden opportunity Sunday to move above .500 and continue to be one of the NBA’s early-season overachievers. 

Instead, the Nets squandered command of a game they led for 15 consecutive minutes spanning the two halves and lost 106-92 at Barclays Center. 

“The approach is pretty simple: We’ve never had the chance to win three games in a row,” first-year head coach Jordi Fernandez said before the game. “You have to get excited to put wins in a row.” 

The Nets looked excited early. The excitement eventually faded, just like their big lead and their hot hand. 

Cam Johnson scored 20 of the Nets’ first 44 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the floor, including 3 of 5 from behind the arc and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line. He set a new season high with 22 before the end of the first half but went quiet in the second half on the way to 26. 

In a battle of teams widely forecast to finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Nets (3-4) led from the time that an 8-0 spurt erased a 37-36 deficit midway through the second quarter until late in the third quarter. There were five lead changes and six ties in the first half. 

But the Pistons (2-5) clawed back from a deficit as big as nine to take a 76-73 lead with 3:08 remaining in the third quarter, when Tobias Harris knocked down a tiebreaking 19-footer and finished the play at line. In fact, the Pistons closed the third on a 22-8 run over the final seven minutes. 

The Pistons held a monstrous 47-27 edge on the glass. 

Cade Cunningham paced six double-figure scorers for the Pistons, whose balanced attack beat the Nets’ two-man firepower. 

Cam Thomas, who came in as the No. 9 scorer in the NBA (28.2 points per game), was just 3 of 11 from the field, including 1 of 6 from 3, over the first three quarters. He finished with 17 points, after adding six in the fourth. 

Ben Simmons scored four points on just four shot attempts, adding six rebounds and six assists in 25 minutes. The Nets scored just 35 second-half points after pouring in 32 in the second quarter. 

The crowd began to file out with three minutes remaining, when Malik Beasley drained a 3 to give the Pistons their biggest lead at 101-87. 

The Pistons started 2-1 before losing 28 straight games last season, so they have the next 24 games to get another win and get off to a better start.