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All good things must come to an end, and in this case, that might not be the worst thing.

With a chance to build a three-game win streak on Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons, the Brooklyn Nets instead got smacked around, falling 138-100.

Things snapped back to reality, and despite the brief burst, this is still a team that has lost 11 of its last 13 games and owns the third-worst record in the NBA.

While Brooklyn has managed to pull off a few head-scratching wins throughout the season, there’s no hiding this team’s place among the league’s bottom tier and its tendency to revert to the mean.

Now sitting at 17-48 and holding the fourth slot in the lottery standings, NetsDaily breaks down a few takeaways from the past few days of Nets basketball.

A True No. 1 Keeps Teams Afloat

When the role players aren’t rolling and Michael Porter Jr.’s rather questionable shot selection isn’t falling, a true No. 1 option would keep things steady on nights when the lights haven’t come on.

A star player doesn’t just provide offensive firepower. It gives a team a standard, a constant reminder of the best possible outcome when everything goes right.

Whether it comes by way of the draft, trade, or free agency, one player alone won’t completely reverse course in the standings. But don’t expect to see as many 38-point blowouts if Brooklyn finds that centerpiece.

Having a clear No. 1 option also creates safety valves and two-man games that lead to a more well-rounded offense.

On nights like this one, when a player like Bam Adebayo — not even Miami’s primary scoring option — can put up a generational 83-point scoring performance, the Nets’ lack of a dependable go-to scorer becomes glaring.

Rookies Showing What We’re Waiting For

Following this team would feel far bleaker without the promise of improvement, but many of the ingredients are already on the table.

On Tuesday, rookie point guard Ben Saraf delivered one of his most well-rounded performances of the season, scoring 10 points on perfect shooting while adding six assists against just two turnovers.

“Ben will always fight. He’s a competitor,” said Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez. “Sometimes you have to be challenged to fight and come back harder, and he always does that.”

With the season winding down, Saraf may have left the most to be desired among Brooklyn’s NBA-record five first-round picks. That said, earning five starts as a rookie while averaging five points and 2.8 assists per game is nothing to scoff at for a No. 26 overall pick.

After being called up from the G League ahead of Monday’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, Drake Powell returned to Brooklyn with two solid outings of his own, scoring nine points Monday and 10 more on Tuesday.

With his efficiency dipping late in that stretch, Brooklyn sent Powell back to the G League so he could work through the slump and regain his rhythm without the pressure of nightly NBA minutes. If the early returns are any indication, the reset may have been exactly what he needed.

While rookie point guard Nolan Traoré finished Tuesday with just two points, he continues to flash enough potential to be viewed as a promising playmaker for the future.

During Monday’s win over Memphis, he scored 17 points on 66.7% shooting while adding four assists and committing just one turnover.

In his case, the talent is obvious to anyone watching. It’s simply a matter of adjusting to the NBA pace and occasionally remembering to slow down and take a breath.

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A True No. 1 Defender Is Needed

Just as much as the Nets are starving for a reliable offensive anchor, they also need a No. 1 option on the defensive end.

As players like Cade Cunningham and Luka Dončić continue to define the modern NBA with their combination of size, fluidity, and strength, Brooklyn will need someone capable of slowing them down.

As athletically gifted as Nic Claxton is, his best work comes in and around the paint, and asking him to venture too far from it wouldn’t be the best use of the team’s pieces

Brooklyn’s best bet on the current roster may be Powell, who has shown a willingness to defend and a knack for understanding the intricacies of being a stopper.

With some added physical development in the offseason, he could grow into a reliable defender capable of guarding positions one through four and giving head coach Jordi Fernández some breathing room when facing elite offensive talent.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s sports and youth minister said it's “not possible” for the country to take part in the World Cup after the United States killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in its ongoing war.

Iran was expected to take part in the World Cup that will be held across North America in June, but Iranian Sports and Youth Minister Ahmad Donyamali told state television that his country’s soccer team players are not safe in the U.S., according to a video of the interview posted Tuesday.

“Due to the wicked acts they have done against Iran — they have imposed two wars on us over just eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people — definitely it’s not possible for us to take part in the World Cup,” he said.

Iran is scheduled to play in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 before finishing group play against Egypt in Seattle on June 26. The U.S. is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

FIFA said Tuesday night that it anticipates Iran’s national team will be allowed to come to the United States.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said “I really don’t care” if Iran takes part in the 48-nation tournament.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he met with Trump on Tuesday night “to discuss the status of preparations” for the tournament and received assurances that Iran would be permitted to come to the U.S.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

It has been a solid run lately for the Phoenix Suns as they work through the schedule following the All-Star break and move toward a spot in either the Play-In or the postseason. The team is 4–1 over its last five games. You can certainly point to the level of competition during that stretch, although when you consider the injuries and the increase in minutes for young players, what Phoenix has done deserves some credit.

A month ago this team was not rolling out lineups featuring Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, Haywood Highsmith, and Amir Coffey. Those combinations simply did not exist. Head coach Jordan Ott has pulled the right levers with those players, placing them into the rotation in moments where they can succeed, and that has helped fuel this recent stretch. Make no mistake, though. The biggest driver behind this run is not the flashiest storyline, although it might be the most reliable one.

Devin Booker is back.

His return following the injury has steadied the ship for Phoenix and helped spark this stretch that now includes a three-game winning streak. Booker does not always deliver the loudest highlights. He is not drilling a deep three and signaling for defenders to fall asleep. He is not launching himself toward the rim for poster dunks or pointing toward the floor after breaking an ankle like his teammate Jalen Green might.

💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/CIpam5ow1G

— John Voita, III (@DarthVoita) March 11, 2026

Book? He simply attacks the mid-range and puts the ball in the basket. For a team that spent much of February struggling to score consistently, watching Booker operate again has been a welcome sight.

Something else has started to happen since Booker returned to the lineup. His efficiency is slowly climbing back to where you expect it to be. It has been one of the season’s most interesting paradoxes. Devin Booker has experienced a down year relative to scoring, three-point percentage, and overall efficiency. Yet the team has continued to win games.

Why? The biggest reason is the way Booker has leaned into facilitation and his overall gravity as a player. He has used his scoring ability to create opportunities for everyone else. Defenses collapse toward him, the ball swings, and teammates find clean looks. Booker is averaging 6.1 assists per game, and players around him are producing some of the best seasons of their careers. That shift has changed the structure of the offense. Booker does not need to score 30 points every night for the Suns to win.

That was one of the concerns entering the season. There was a belief that Phoenix might rely too heavily on Booker’s scoring burden. If that happened, the wear and tear over the course of the season could break him down and drag the offense with it. Instead, the opposite occurred. Even with the efficiency dip, the team continued to succeed.

And now Booker is starting to look like Booker again.

Over the last five games, he is averaging 26.6 points while shooting 42% from the field, 39% from three, and 94% from the free throw line. He is also averaging 5.8 assists during that stretch. He has four consecutive games scoring 25+ points.

The three-point shot, in particular, is beginning to rebound. Before this five-game run, Booker was sitting at 30.8% from deep. After going 16-of-41 from beyond the arc over the last five games, that number has climbed to 32%. It is slowly inching its way back toward his career average of 35.2%. And if that trend continues, the offense around him becomes even more dangerous.

As the team prepares for whatever the postseason holds, Devin Booker is starting to regain the efficiency that has defined his game. The timing could not be better. For much of the season, the team carried some of the weight created by his inefficiencies. Now the pendulum is swinging the other direction. Booker is returning the favor by looking more like the version of himself that Suns fans have grown accustomed to watching.

The mid-range assassin. The player who can halt a scoring run with a calm pull-up from fifteen feet. The player who slows the game down when things begin to spiral. One possession, one jumper, momentum changes.

It quiets a lot of the noise that has surrounded his season. Even before this recent stretch, he was putting together an All-Star-level campaign. This run only strengthens that case. If he stays healthy and plays every remaining game, there is a real path where he finds himself back in the All-NBA conversation. But more importantly, the level rises on what the Suns could be once the postseason arrives.

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The vibe was off from the start in this one. It almost felt like there had been too much buildup for it. Too much momentum for it not to go a little sideways.

“Two title contenders squaring off!”

“Possible Finals preview!”

“Jayson Tatum continuing his incredible return!”

“Wembanyama making an MVP push!”

“The two hottest teams in the league on NBC Coast-to-Coast Tuesday!”

And then, of course, what are we all talking about this morning? That’s right. Bam Adebayo dropping 83 on the Wizards. Sure!

It’s not that Spurs vs. Celtics was a bad game. It was actually pretty entertaining once everything settled in. It just felt… off. Like watching two dance partners who couldn’t quite decide who was leading. Everything just a little bit out of step.

I was antsy the whole time watching this. More concerned with how everything looked and what it meant than what was actually happening on the court. It’s like I can feel the eyes of people outside our specific fan Circle of Trust now trained on the Spurs, trying to figure out what the deal is. Trying to poke holes in the plan. Trying to take the air out of it.

Every time we missed a shot or turned the ball over I kept alternating between a feeling somewhere between slight panic and mortification. Boys, how could you embarrass me like this? We have company! I just cleaned in here! Please stop missing corner threes in front of Mike Tirico.

And before you start with me, just trust me: I understand that I’m being ridiculous. This is not a cool or groovy way to watch sports. It’s not a cool or groovy way to do anything.

The Spurs are in the middle of one of the most fun stretches of basketball we’ve seen in almost a decade. The vibes around this team are basically perfect. The ball is flying around. Victor Wembanyama is somehow exceeding expectations. The young guys are growing up in real time. If you sat down in October and tried to draw up the exact emotional temperature you’d want around the team right now, it would look almost exactly like this.

And yet there I was the whole night, sitting on the couch sweaty and nervous. I was mad when Jaylen Brown got ejected because of what it might mean for the narrative if they lost to a shorthanded Celtics team at home. I was frustrated we were tied at the half. I was annoyed at how many threes we were taking.

The threes were going in and I was annoyed about it. What even is that, you guys?

I mean, the Spurs won this game. By a lot! Against a really good team! And I’m sitting here spilling my guts about how miserable I was the whole time. Stupid!

But I also have a suspicion I’m not alone in this. Like most things in sports, it taps into something a little deeper in the human condition. That strange feeling of finally getting the thing you’ve been begging for and immediately wondering what’s wrong with it is familiar to anyone who’s been around the block a few times. One day you look around and realize you’re standing in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife and you may ask yourself, well… how did I get here?

Same as it ever was.

It’s just such an easy trap to fall into. You spend all of high school trying to get into college and then you’re there. Now what? You spend all of college worrying about trying to get a job and then you get one. Now what? You spend months training for a marathon and then you cross the finish line. Now what?

I think we might just be bad at enjoying things in the moment. The planning, the chase, the hunt… that’s what drives us. That’s what gives the whole thing meaning. Actually sitting there with what we’ve got feels strange. Lazy, almost. Like if we stop swimming for even a second we might sink.

It doesn’t seem particularly healthy.

I don’t think the Spurs are guilty of it, even if the guy writing this clearly is. A very lovable, if not relatable, thing about this team right now is that they really do seem to be living in the moment. They’re staying within themselves. They’re focused on each game as it comes and taking it in stride. They’re having fun out there.

You watch them after the game, all of them peer-pressuring Mason Plumlee into doing the drum thing, and suddenly everything else feels kind of silly. All the stress. All the anxiety. All the little narrative traps my brain spent the night worrying about.

It’s just noise. Mostly self-generated.

The Spurs, meanwhile, just went out and beat the Celtics. Seemed like they had fun, too.

Probably should give that a try.

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Takeaways

• A thing I do against my better judgment is listen to Tim Bontemps on The Hoop Collective wring his hands about Victor Wembanyama’s shot profile. He has this whole thing where he’s very against the idea of Vic taking a high volume of threes. In Bontemps’ ideal world, Wembanyama is finishing at the rim, living in the paint, and generally filling his diet with higher-percentage looks instead of bombing away from the perimeter. I get annoyed when he goes on these rants largely because… I kind of agree with him. Part of it is that my brain still can’t fully wrap itself around the concept of someone that tall playing like a guard. And part of it is just a very simple instinct that kicks in whenever I watch him float around the three-point line: yo man, you’re seven-foot-four. Go dunk it, brother. Please trust that I do not enjoy agreeing with Tim Bontemps on this.
• Last night was a weird test case for those of us in the “maybe fewer threes?” camp. Of Wembanyama’s twenty shot attempts, fifteen of them were from beyond the arc. Fifteen! That’s almost the exact shot profile Bontemps is so annoying about. The good news is that he made eight of them. The problem is that he made eight of them. What am I supposed to do with that? It’s undeniably cool when he’s raining threes like that, but I also can’t quite shake the feeling that we’re getting away with something. Like the basketball gods are quietly watching this happen and making a note for later. Because without a doubt, there are going to be playoff teams that are perfectly happy to let him launch from out there and live with the consequences.
• I think, overall, Vic’s game last night didn’t really feel like it was built on him just “falling back” or “settling” for threes all night. A lot of those looks came within the flow of the offense. Catch-and-shoot opportunities, pick-and-pop actions, that sort of thing. The Celtics were clearly trying to keep him out of the paint, and the Spurs were more than happy to let him drift out and punish that choice. He also got to the line a bunch, so it’s not like he was allergic to attacking the basket when the opportunity was there. I don’t know. Look, these are good problems to have. Maybe I should stop worrying about it. How about that?
• De’Aaron Fox is, somehow, quietly just out here steering this whole operation along. He’s kind of perfect for what the Spurs need, isn’t he? He doesn’t seem to want or need the spotlight. He can pour it in when necessary, but he’s just as comfortable orchestrating things and keeping the whole machine running smoothly. He’s poised, he doesn’t make many mistakes, and he’s constantly plugging little holes all over the floor. I’m honestly a little flabbergasted at how cleanly this has worked out. Think about all the hundreds of names that were floated over the last couple of years for players the Spurs absolutely had to pair with Wembanyama in order to not squander his potential. And somehow the guy who fits like a glove is De’Aaron Fox. Fancy that.
• I don’t know if it’s just because he’s left handed, but there’s an angle on some of Fox’s three point shots that almost looks like he’s spinning a curveball into the basket. The thing gets to the rim and just like whips down. It’s bizarre and kind of gives me a little jump every time.
• The only thing I have to say about Jaylen Brown’s ejection is:
  

Keldon Johnson was PERFECTLY IN SYNC with the official who ejected Jaylen Brown lmaooo

😂😂😂

pic.twitter.com/3tis9CPNnN

— Hater Report (@HaterReport) March 11, 2026

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WWL Post Game Press Conference

– Have you ever been ejected from something you were writing?

– Oh sure, I get tossed all the time?

– Wait, really? Like you got two technicals and had to stop writing?

– For sure. Happens more than you’d think. I’ll be in the middle of making a truly excellent point and some ref will come barging into my office blowing his whistle and shouting something like, “PASSIVE VOICE!” And of course I can’t just let that slide, so I get right in his face and say, “You think THAT was passive voice? That? Are you serious? THAT’S THE LEAST PASSIVE THING I’VE EVER SAID! IF YOU WANT PASSIVE, I’LL GIVE YOU PASSIVE.”

– Ok. And that…helps?

– Almost never, the refs hate when you get in their face like that.

– Does someone usually have to hold you back?

– Yeah, PTR has security teams on the bench that come out. Sometimes Marilyn has to step in, calm things down, tell me to go take a breather, and then she finishes my… ahem… discussion. It’s all part of the game.

– What happens when you get tossed though? Does someone else finish the column?

-Yeah, we’ll bring someone off the bench. Usually it’s pretty seamless. But if you’ve ever been reading something I wrote and thought, “not his best work,” you can probably assume a biased ref with an agenda sent me to the locker room early.