National Basketball Association
Preview
Brooklyn at San Antonio
When: 8:30 PM ET, Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, Texas

Something has to give when the Brooklyn Nets, losers of four straight games, square off against the slumping, short-handed Spurs on Tuesday night in San Antonio.

The Spurs play the second of a two-game homestand that began with a 146-132 loss to Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City on Sunday. Rookie Stephon Castle scored 32 points off the bench, which was just one point off his career high, and De'Aaron Fox had 20 points while playing his first true home game since being traded to San Antonio in early February.

"We scored 132 points -- that's enough to win every game in a season, but you can't give up 146 and expect to win," Fox said.

Jeremy Sochan added 17 points, Devin Vassell had 15 and Harrison Barnes scored 14 for the Spurs, who have dropped five of their past six games. They have been without star center Victor Wembanyama since Feb. 20 because of deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) in his right shoulder, which ended his season.

San Antonio, playing on back-to-back nights after winning in Memphis on Saturday, led by five points at halftime while canning a team-record 16 3-pointers for a half. But the Spurs ran out of gas in the second half, trailing by as many as 22 points late in the game.

"We made a lot of shots, and at some point we stopped scoring a little bit," Spurs interim head coach Mitch Johnson said. "That's where you have to put your energy at getting the stops and getting the rebounds and not turning ball over."

The Nets head to San Antonio on the heels of a 115-94 setback in Detroit on Saturday. Tyrese Martin led the Brooklyn with 23 points off the bench. Jalen Wilson scored 14 points and Cameron Johnson added 13 in a game the Nets trailed by 23 points at halftime but rallying to within six points heading to the fourth before succumbing.

Brooklyn shot just 30.5 percent (29 of 95) from the floor in the loss and made only 6 of its 39 3-point attempts (15.4 percent). Johnson went 0-for-10 from beyond the arc, snapping a 60-game streak with at least one 3-pointer.

"Obviously, we struggled to shoot, and It's hard to win a basketball game when you shoot like this," Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. "We will keep shooting -- that means the next game we're going to make more.

"On the positive side, we did OK taking care of the ball against a very aggressive defensive team and we created 24 points out of 23 turnovers, which tells you we were aggressive (on the defensive end)."

After tying a season-high with three straight wins in the second week of February, Brooklyn has dropped five of its past six games.

Brooklyn played without leading scorer Cam Thomas, who returned in Friday's loss at home to Portland after missing two months with a strained left hamstring, and D'Angelo Russell (sprained right ankle). Russell has not played since Feb. 20 but could return. Thomas is expected to play.

On Monday, the Nets announced that they would not re-sign former lottery pick Killian Hayes to a second 10-day contract, cutting the point guard loose after he started Brooklyn's past five games.

San Antonio won the first game between the teams this season 96-87 on Dec. 27 in Brooklyn.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Day Night Div Conf
Brooklyn 21-39 L4 9-20 12-19 0-4 21-35 3-8 12-26
San Antonio 25-34 L1 14-15 11-19 0-3 25-31 3-10 18-22
Last Meeting
Brooklyn San Antonio
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
12/27/24 SA 96 BK 87 87 45 38.9 96 43 41.0
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Brooklyn K. Johnson 25 50.0 1
San Antonio V. Wembanyama 19 50.0 2
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Brooklyn N. Claxton 10 4 6
San Antonio J. Sochan 14 3 11
Assists Player  
Brooklyn S. Milton 12
San Antonio T. Jones 6
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Brooklyn C. Johnson 907 46.6 163
San Antonio V. Wembanyama 1135 47.3 162
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Brooklyn N. Claxton 386 115 271
San Antonio V. Wembanyama 522 84 438
Assists Player  
Brooklyn C. Johnson 143
San Antonio C. Paul 485
Quickchart Matchup
Brooklyn Brooklyn Off vs  San Antonio San Antonio Defense
Brooklyn Off vs San Antonio - Points For 104.8 Points For
Brooklyn Off vs San Antonio - Points Against 115.3 Points Against
Brooklyn - FG% 43.7 FG%
San Antonio - FG% 46.7 FG%
Brooklyn - Reb 41.1 Reb
San Antonio - Reb 46.7 Reb
San Antonio San Antonio Off vs  Brooklyn Brooklyn Defense
San Antonio Off vs Brooklyn - Points For 113.1 Points For
San Antonio Off vs Brooklyn - Points Against 111.3 Points Against
San Antonio - FG% 46.1 FG%
Brooklyn - FG% 48.0 FG%
San Antonio - Reb 44.5 Reb
Brooklyn - Reb 42.8 Reb