Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn blew a 12-point lead - and an eight-point fourth-quarter cushion - to fall 116-113 before a crowd of 16,201 at Smoothie King Center. After playing well last month, the Nets (11-27) have struggled since the calendar flipped. Brooklyn has the longest losing skid in the league at five straight, and has now dropped eight of their past nine. The Nets (11-27) sit fifth in the lottery standings.

December ended with Brooklyn leading the NBA in opponent scoring, allowing just 104.6 points per game, nearly six points better than the next-lowest team in the Eastern Conference. It was a sharp reversal for a group that entered the month allowing 113.9 points per game and searching for traction. The question now is whether that version of the Nets can carry into January. So far, the early returns have been mixed, though it's still a small sample.

Drake Powell didn't arrive in Brooklyn with an offensive reputation. At North Carolina last season, the 6-5 wing was known almost exclusively for his defense, a high-motor stopper whose freshman minutes were tied to effort, not scoring. He knocked down the occasional mid-range jumper, hit 38.1% of his 3s on limited attempts, made simple reads and showed plenty of athletic juice as a cutter and transition finisher.