The Nets ultimately retained Finney-Smith, but his on-court production over his last 10 starts entering Tuesday’s matchup against the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers had been shaky at best, as he averaged 6.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting an efficient 45.6% from the field, but just 29.4% from 3-point range.

Finney-Smith’s best performances over that stretch came in two road games against Minnesota and Memphis, where he averaged 12 points and nine rebounds on 52.6% shooting.

However, a player as talented as Finney-Smith was bound to have a breakout game at some point this season. And his signature moment finally came in Tuesday’s 112-107 win, a game where the Nets entered without Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe, and exited without Cam Johnson.

Interim head coach Kevin Ollie has been begging his players to step up in clutch time. The 6-7 forward responded with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the fourth quarter. He finished with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds overall to help lead the Nets to victory.

“We got down by 14, got down by eight and he was just saying, ‘Coach, I got you,’ ‘Coach, come on. We good we good’ and he just never wavered and that’s what we need from our leaders, never waver, always have confidence in each other and I thought they just gave that to each other tonight and it was just it was beautiful to watch,” Ollie said.

Mikal Bridges, Dennis Smith Jr. and Dennis Schröder kept finding Finney-Smith for easy buckets around the rim. And Finney-Smith got himself going, too, with a few key offensive rebounds that kept important possessions alive for Brooklyn.

“He’s a dawg, man,” Lonnie Walker IV said. “He does a lot of things that probably don’t get noticed or get seen. You know, a lot of offensive rebounds, put-back layups… He does the dirty work.”

Said Finney- Smith: “Guys were finding me cutting and stuff like that. Coach been asking me to cut a lot more with the new sets that he’s been putting in.”

Finney-Smith, a 37.6% shooter from distance this season, also went 4-of-7 from deep in the win. It was the first time he had made at least four treys in a game since Jan. 27.

“It’s just something that’s going to come back,” Finney-Smith said of his marksmanship. “I feel like the average is going to be what it’s going to be. Just try not to focus on it. It is what it is. Just shoot the ball with confidence and let the results be the results.”

But offense aside, Finney-Smith got it done defensively. He did not record a steal against the 76ers, but had a defensive rating of 109.7, the highest among starters. The Nets were plus-9 with Finney-Smith on the court Tuesday night, but his teammates stepped up defensively, too.

Brooklyn outscored the Philadelphia, 32-24, in the fourth quarter and 28-15 over the final 8:45 of regulation.

“Just getting stops,” Finney-Smith said. “Dennis [Smith Jr.] did a good job of guarding, getting the breakaway steal, the 360. [Nic Claxton] was guarding as well. They went small, and we had to switch everything. So, I feel like everybody stepped up and took the challenge, and we got the win.”

Brooklyn, to the disappointment of many inside Barclays Center, failed to defeat a Luke Kennard-led Memphis Grizzlies team Monday night. It welcomed a Philadelphia 76ers squad without Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to town Tuesday night in the second game of a back-to-back set.

The Nets took care of business time around, winning 112-107.

“We just dug in, stayed together, stayed connected,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said. “Nobody was pouting over there. Nobody was pointing fingers. And we just hunt better when we’re in a pack and not individuals.”

Similar to Monday, the Nets suffered another slow start at both ends of the court, finding themselves down 13-5 in a blink. Philadelphia led 30-23 after one quarter and led by as many as 14 points in the second. But Nic Claxton, Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Smith Jr. spearheaded a furious rally, powered by defense, to cut Brooklyn’s deficit to three with 4:41 left in the half.

Mikal Bridges’ second 3-pointer of the night would have given the Nets the edge at halftime, but Philadelphia’s Cam Payne was fouled by Dennis Schröder while trying to advance the ball up the court with 1.1 seconds left in the half, resulting in two made free throws and a 57-56 advantage for the 76ers at the break.

The Nets did create seven points worth of separation in the third quarter but could not build on it. The 76ers went 3-of-6 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the period while Brooklyn went 2-of-7 from deep and did not attempt a single shot from the charity stripe. That was enough to give Philadelphia a three-point lead entering the final frame, which set up quite the finish in the game’s final minutes.

“It was about how we respond and how resilient we could be tonight,” Dennis Smith Jr. said.

A 106-103 game with 39.2 seconds left in regulation, Schröder sliced through the heart of Philadelphia’s defense and finished with a lefty layup to extend Brookyn’s lead to five with 23.1 seconds remaining. Following a timeout by 76ers head coach Nick Nurse, Payne missed a wild layup attempt and Claxton secured the rebound. He was quickly fouled by Payne, and although he split the subsequent free throws, it was enough to put the game out of reach.

The Nets improved to 25-37 with Monday’s win but will remain 2.5 games behind the Hawks for 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings after Atlanta’s surprising 116-100 defeat of the Knicks. That is why it is imperative for this group to win the games it is expected to.

“This is our fourth quarter of our season,” Ollie said. “We have to challenge each other. We can’t let any games slip and we have to take care of business.”

“This is our fourth quarter of our season,” Ollie said. “We have to challenge each other. We can’t let any games slip and we have to take care of business.”

Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith led Brooklyn with 20 points each. Walker added 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting off the bench in his best scoring performance since Feb. 3.

Kelly Oubre Jr. finished with a game-high 30 points for Philadelphia, who fell to 35-26 this season. The Nets outscored them 32-24 in the final frame, where they trailed by as many as eight points.

Finney-Smith scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter on 5-of-5 shooting. Walker, who was listed as questionable entering the night, logged a career-high tying plus-29 in just under 30 minutes.

“Coach has been telling us to respond,” Finney-Smith said. “That’s something he’s been challenging us to do, sticking together when things get bad… They came out and hit us in the face first, but sometimes you need stuff like that with Dennis [Schröder] and Kyle Lowry [getting into it]. It gets guys going and it definitely got us going.”

Brooklyn has won three of its past four games, but continues to take losses on the injury front.

However, even with Monday’s win, it feels Brooklyn just keeps taking losses. Cam Johnson, who made his fifth straight start, landed awkwardly on his ankle with 7:07 left in the first quarter after knocking down his only 3-pointer of the night. He briefly went back to the locker room for a few minutes before returning to the court for a short stint but was ultimately ruled out for the rest of the game after halftime.

Johnson finished with six points and a rebound in eight minutes. The Nets were already playing without Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe Monday night. Brooklyn will begin a five-game road trip on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons.

“Since the beginning of the season, I have continuously said we’re figuring it out and we’re growing and we’re improving and we’re learning from it,” Walker said. “And this is a clear example of our growth and all the trials and tribulations that we’ve been through.”

“I’ve gotten tremendous reports about Noah, him doing a great job down there in the G-league with Long Island, and I know he’ll be ready to play and ready to step in when his name is called,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said.

Sharpe underwent imaging on his injured right wrist ahead of Tuesday’s game, according to Ollie. The team is still awaiting the results of his testing.

The 22-year-old suffered the injury with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter on Monday. After getting fouled on a dunk attempt in transition, he tried to hang on the rim for a moment to halt his momentum, but quickly lost his grip and wound up using both hands to cushion his fall.

Sharpe, who has averaged 7.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists across 46 games this season while shooting 58.3% from the field, missed 15 straight games from Jan. 11 — Feb. 10 because of a hyperextended left knee suffered on Jan. 7 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

THOMAS RAMPING UP

Cam Thomas missed his fifth straight game on Tuesday because of a right ankle sprain suffered late in last week’s road win over Memphis, but Ollie confirmed that the 22-year-old has been ramping up his activity in recent days.

Thomas was seen on a stationary bike, dribbling and dunking a basketball off his left foot after Monday’s shootaround in Brooklyn. He appeared to be in good spirits. Cam Johnson has started five straight games in Thomas’ place.

“He’s just getting better,” Ollie said of Thomas. “He’s ramping up his workouts and then keep leaning on our medical staff — and him also because he’s a big part of this — to let us know when he’s ready. But he is ramping up a little bit more than what he was doing prior.”

Thomas was averaging 16.4 points while shooting 39.7% from the field and 34.5% from 3-point range over his last five starts prior to injury. He missed nine straight games in November because of a left ankle sprain.

WILSON’S CONTRACT DETAILS

Rookie forward Jalen Wilson inked a three-year deal with the Nets last Friday after starting the season on a two-way contract.

While the full terms of Wilson’s agreement were not revealed, per team rules, Keith Smith of Spotrac reported on Tuesday that his team came out of Brooklyn’s non-taxpayer midlevel exception and that he will be paid $850K for the remainder of this season and will receive a guaranteed $75K next season.

The third season of Wilson’s deal, 2025-26, will be a team option for the Nets, per Smith.

According to the team’s latest injury report, Lonnie Walker IV is questionable because of a left ankle sprain entering Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Barclays Center, the second game of a back-to-back set for Brooklyn.

Ben Simmons (left lower back nerve impingement) and Cam Thomas (right ankle/midfoot sprain) will both miss their fifth straight games against the 76ers. And Day’Ron Sharpe, who suffered a right wrist contusion in Monday’s 106-102 loss, will join them on the inactive list. Walker’s status will become clearer as we inch closer to tip off.

Without Simmons and Sharpe available, two of the larger players at interim head coach Kevin Ollie’s disposal, Brooklyn called up rookie center Noah Clowney from the G League. The 19-year-old center has averaged 4.1 points, 1.9 rebound on 61.1% shooting across seven NBA appearances this season.

Center Nic Claxton played 33 minutes against Memphis, the lowest of any starter. Clowney has averaged 16.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 blocks in 16 starts at the G League level this season.

“Just like I said with Jalen Wilson, they’re just open to learning,” Ollie said when asked about Clowney’s development recently. “They’re open to be coached. They want to be better and they’re taking it personal, their development. You know, some people don’t take it personal. Some people come and go, but they’re taking it personal, like, ‘I’m going to own this, I’m going to get better. I’m going to listen to my coaches, but I’m going to do whatever it takes for me to get better. And if that’s being in the gym all day long, that’s being in the gym all day long. We need to take it personally,’ and that’s what we want.”

Speaking to reporters ahead of Monday’s game, Ollie said Simmons is considered day-to-day and he’s “still on the court”. Simmons’ agent, Bernie Lee, took responsibility for his client’s lingering back issues in an interview with SNY’s Ian Begley.

The 27-year-old has appeared in just 15 games for the Nets this season and 57 of 179 total games since being acquired by the Nets at the 2022 trade deadline.

“We continue to try and find non-surgical options to allow Ben to move forward on a permanent basis and that is where this is my responsibility and I am [the] one to blame,” Lee said.

“When I began working with Ben, I made a commitment to him that I would do everything I could to find the right answers and specialists for him to work with [in order] to move forward from the issues he has been having. Clearly it hasn’t happened, and that’s my responsibility.”

But the names on the back of the road team’s jerseys did not matter much in this matchup. The Nets, who fell behind 12-5 early, quickly learned that they were up against a far more prideful group compared to the one they beat by 25 points inside FedExForum a week ago. Brooklyn rallied from its early deficit to take a 31-29 lead into the second quarter and found itself engaged in a slugfest throughout the rest of regulation.

After 11 lead changes, 10 ties and a handful of brutal fouls, it was Memphis who escaped Barclays Center with a 106-102 victory, ending the Nets’ hopes for their first three-game winning streak since Dec. 2 — Dec. 8.

“We didn’t pay enough to get this win,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said. “That goes for coaches, that goes for everybody. We’ve got to pay the cost for the win and that’s effort.”

The Grizzlies were up 80-77 at the end of the third quarter and matched Brooklyn’s 25 points over the final 12 minutes of action. The Nets went 7-of-19 from the field in the fourth quarter (3-of-12 from deep) and committed four turnovers. They had 16 turnovers total, which led to 16 points for Memphis.

Brooklyn (24-37) is now 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for 10th place in the Eastern Conference Standings. The Toronto Raptors are one game behind the Nets for 11th place.

“Every game means a whole lot at this point because of the position we put ourselves in,” Nic Claxton said. “So we need to win every single game, especially games like this — you knew they were missing a lot of dudes — so this loss is definitely going to sting but we have to flush it and get ready for tomorrow.”

Claxton led the Nets with 21 points, six rebounds and two assists in the loss. He was the only Brooklyn player to score at least 20 points on Monday night. Kennard — the only reliable scoring threat available for head coach Taylor Jenkins — paced Memphis with 25 points and six 3-pointers. He went 8-of-11 from the field and 6-of-9 from deep.

Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas both missed their fourth straight game against the Grizzlies.

While it was an evenly played game across the board, poor shooting in the opening minutes, horrendous free throw accuracy and an inability to control the glass, ultimately doomed the Nets. The Grizzlies won the rebounding battle 51-33 and had 15 offensive rebounds that contributed to 25 second-chance points.

“Maybe [we] relaxed a little bit,” said Mikal Bridges, who had five rebounds in 39 minutes. “But yeah, they just played harder than us. I think they outrebounded us by a lot. I take a lot of credit on both ends – defensively as well – just boxing out, not getting the rebound and stuff like that. So it’s just tough.”

The Nets attempted eight more free throws than Memphis, but Memphis still had one more make than them at the charity stripe. Brooklyn went 17-of-30 from the line while the Grizzlies went 18-of-22. That, and the rebounding woes, were ultimately the difference on Monday night.

“The game makes you pay when you’re not locked in,” Cam Johnson said. “I thought our focus was higher the last couple games and in this one it slipped a little bit. So it’s on us, we gotta be a lot better.”

The Nets will return to the court Tuesday against the Philadelphia 76ers in the second game of a back-to-back set. Brookyn beat a shorthanded 76ers squad without Joel Embiid 136-121 on Feb. 3 in Philadelphia.

“We got to execute better, we got to make free throws, we got to double down on all the details,” Ollie said. “We didn’t do that tonight and this is what happens

It is hard to win in the NBA with little defensive resistance.

“Yeah, we watched film and it was pretty, pretty nasty [and] ugly and i think we learned from it,” Dennis Schröder said.

However, Brooklyn has been a much better defensive team since returning from that disastrous four-game road trip where its only win came against a severely undermanned Memphis Grizzlies team — the same group it hosted at Barclays Center on Monday. The Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks by 27 points last Thursday and bested them by 12 points on Saturday.

The Nets did not allow Atlanta to score a single fastbreak point on Saturday after giving up 14 on Thursday. The Hawks were limited to just 43.5% shooting (74-of-170) across both meetings. Some of the tendencies Ollie has been trying to plant since taking over for Jacque Vaughn after the All-Star break are beginning to blossom.

“First of all, we’re sprinting back, we’re taking pride in that,” Ollie said. “I keep telling you, we’re planting seeds, and sometimes when you plant seeds you don’t know when they’re going to blossom. It’s your job to keep planting them and not get distracted by naysayers saying you’re doing the wrong thing but knowing that you’re doing the right things and you just got to continue to plug away at that. You can’t get distracted.

“There can be some things that you get distracted by, but we know we was planting the right things, and we were demanding the right things and we just got to go out there and execute them. And I think our guys did that well in Atlanta, not saying we’re going to do that every game and give up zero transition [points], but you see the fruit of their labor coming to fruition.”

Greater levels of energy and focus are also factors that have played into the Nets’ recent defensive surge. Ollie called maintaining those things on a game-to-game basis an “inside job”.

“We’ve got to take care of what’s inside this locker room, and keep playing the right way, keep playing with our winning habits that we’re starting to establish and build a foundation,” Ollie said. “So, we’re not looking past anybody. We’re taking care of our business and standing on that with our standards, and that’s what we’re going to continue to have no matter who we’re playing.”

But as good as Brooklyn has been at that end of the court during their current homestand, Ollie knows that there is another level they can reach. It starts with better connectivity and continuing to push forward through adversity.

“I think you can never be 100% connected; during lulls, during things that happen in a game that’s not seen all the time – and you can’t prepare for it,” Ollie said. “It just happens — how do you respond?… Things happen in the game, and how we respond and how we stay in the center of a hurricane is what I really try to preach. And that’s like the calmest place with all the distractions going on. Can we calm each other down? Can we challenge each other, and no one takes it personal. I think that’s another [area of] growth for us.”

SIMMONS’ TIMELINE UNCLEAR

Ben Simmons missed his fourth straight game on Monday because of a lower back nerve impingement.

The first three games he missed during his most recent inactive streak was because of leg soreness. However, the Nets clarified on Sunday that the current leg issues stemmed from the same lower back nerve impingement injury that forced him to miss 38 straight games earlier in the season.

The 27-year-old has appeared in just 15 games for the Nets this season and 57 of 178 total games since being acquired by Brooklyn at the 2022 trade deadline. Ollie did not have any updates on Simmons’ status ahead of Monday’s game.

“We were just trying to get to the source of it and that’s why the change of the wording was,” Ollie said. “But he’s still day-to-day, he’s still on the court, and hopefully we can get him back soon and get him ready for this playoff push that we have in March and April.”

And how do the Nets, as a team, keep an unselfish mentality without their best distributor on the court?

“I mean, just pushing the pace,” Schröder said. “When we get stops, I think everybody just running, kick the ball ahead and make the right basketball decision. Sometimes Clax will get 20 or 25 points, and next night it’s Mikal. I think it’s really hard to scout that, you know, when you don’t know who is really aggressive that night. And just you know, playing the game of basketball the right way always gives you a chance to win in this league.”

Simmons, who has appeared in just 15 games for the Nets this season, left last Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with 8:04 left in the third quarter and did not return. He was listed as questionable because of leg soreness entering the team’s next game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 26, but wound up playing 14 minutes off the bench and contributed four points, six rebounds and three assists.

The 27-year-old has not played in both sides of a back-to-back sets this season, so it was not surprising to see him sit against the Orlando Magic on Feb. 27. However, Simmons remained sidelined in both games against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday and Saturday because of leg soreness. He was considered day-to-day, according to interim head coach Kevin Ollie.

The Nets once again listed Simmons as questionable on Sunday night but revealed that the leg soreness he has experienced in recent days is connected to the lower back nerve impingement injury that forced him to miss 38-straight games earlier in the season. He was officially ruled out after Monday’s shootaround in Brooklyn.

Simmons has played in just 57 of 178 total games since being acquired by the Nets at the 2022 trade deadline. He has averaged 6.1 points, 7.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds this season while shooting 58.1% from the field. If his nerve impingement injury is beginning to flare up again, there is no telling when he will return to the court, based on his history.

Cam Thomas will also miss his fourth straight game on Monday because of a right ankle sprain and is also considered day-to-day. However, at this point it feels like he will be back on the court before Simmons. He was seen on the stationary bike during shootaround and also threw down a dunk off his left leg before reporters were escorted out of the practice gym.

Brooklyn has a 7-5 record without Thomas this season and is 17-28 without Simmons.

Staying on the injury front, rookie guard Dariq Whitehead, who underwent season-ending surgery in late January to address stress reaction in his left shin, was seen walking around on the practice court without a boot.

Brooklyn improved to 24-36 this season and is now just two games behind Atlanta for 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, which means the team remains in prime position to steal the final spot in the Play-In Tournament down the stretch. And the Nets were able to get it done in both meetings without Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas, who both missed their third consecutive games on Saturday.

“We have to get as many as we can now,” Cam Johnson said. “We put our backs against the wall so it’s on us to dig ourselves out of that hole and fight doing it.”

Saturday’s rematch against the Hawks was not as one-sided as Thursday’s win. Atlanta flipped the script, racing out to a 7-2 lead which forced interim head coach Kevin Ollie to take a quick timeout. The Nets were up 18 points after one quarter of play on Thursday. They trailed Atlanta, 28-21, through the first 12 minutes on Saturday, despite eight offensive rebounds, and were shooting 27.9% (7-of-27) with four turnovers.

While the team struggled on offense to start, it was not because of a lack of quality looks. Early on it looked like one of those rough shooting games that have plagued the Nets all season long.

The Hawks shot 50% (11-of-22) in the opening quarter and seemingly could not miss at the rim with an early 14 points in the paint. However, Brooklyn finally caught fire in the second quarter, especially from behind the arc. They went 8-of-8 from 3-point range in the period, the most treys made in a quarter without a miss in team history.

“We were just sharing the ball and finding each other, getting stops, that’s what it is,” Mikal Bridges said. “Everyone can dribble, shoot, drive, make the right play. So just finding everybody, sharing the ball and everybody was ready to knock it down.”

Fifteen of Bridges’ game-high 38 points came in the second quarter as well, as the Nets outscored Atlanta, 39-34, to trim their deficit to two points at halftime. It was Bridges’ seventh half this season with at least 20 points. He was averaging just 12.7 points on 34.9/22.0/55.6 splits over his last six games entering the day.

“When you forget about yourself you find yourself,” Ollie said. “It’s not about you, Mikal, and he understands that and that’s when you find yourself. He just got lost playing defense and then all the offense came to him.”

The Nets regained the lead for the first time since the 11:03 mark of the first quarter with 9:09 left in the third, courtesy of a pair of Johnson free throws. Continuing to create separation behind strong defense and stellar offense from Bridges, Johnson and Dennis Schröder, they ultimately outscored Atlanta, 30-18, in the period to extend their lead to 10 points entering the fourth quarter.

Brooklyn played the Hawks close to even in the fourth quarter (24-22) to keep any comeback attempt at bay.

Beyond heating up from 3-point range, the Nets played with more force defensively on the interior in the second half. While the Hawks finished with 48 points in the paint, six of Brooklyn’s eight blocks came in that pivotal third quarter. Atlanta wound up shooting just 42.5% for the game after shooting 53.3% in the first half.

“Playing with force, that’s what changed,” Ollie said.

All five Nets starters finished in double figures and Johnson, who picked up where he left off on Thursday, contributed 23 points, five rebounds and four 3-pointers. Ten of Schröder’s 14 points came in the second half, although he had a rough night in terms of efficiency (4-of-13), and Nic Claxton registered his team-high 21st double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Claxton, Schröder and Day’Ron Sharpe had two blocks each.

Brooklyn will have a chance to extend its winning streak to three games at home on Monday against the Memphis Grizzlies. It owns a tiebreaker over Atlanta after winning the season series 3-1.

“These games were important, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Claxton said.”We kind of set ourselves back these last couple of months but these two games were definitely big to have these under our belt so we have to keep building from these games.”

“Emotions were kind of all over the place,” Wilson said. “This is something I’ve been working really hard for… It means a lot. This is the birthplace of my professional career, so it’s pretty cool to see how valuable people feel I am. Just a blessing to be here.”

Wilson, a 6-6 rookie out of Kansas, signed his initial two-way deal in July and made his NBA debut in a road game against the Miami Heat on Nov. 1. His first career start came on Feb. 8 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Entering Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, the 23-year-old was averaging 5.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game across his first 21 appearances with the big club this season while shooting 46.8% from the field, 43.3% from 3-point range and 90.5% from the free throw line.

Wilson also averaged 19 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 11 starts for the Nets’ G League affiliate on Long Island. He had appeared in each of the first five games coached by Kevin Ollie since the All-Star break, averaging 12 minutes a night.

Ollie believed Wilson’s contract conversion was well deserved.

“Just a constant professional,” Ollie said. “Get in the gym early, leave late, all those different things that everybody says, but they’re true. Always in the lab, working on his game, perfecting his game, open to coaching. And just a great role model. Yeah, he’s young, but he’s a leader. And we see those qualities in him, we see the leadership in him and he’s just going to continue to develop because he’s open for learning and he’s eager for learning. We want him to continue to do that. It’s great to have him in our organization on a multi-year deal.”

GILYARD SIGNS TWO-WAY DEAL

Wilson’s conversion opened up a two-way spot for the Nets, which they used on former Memphis Grizzlies guard Jacob Gilyard. The deadline for NBA teams to sign two-way players is March 4.

Gilyard is the shortest player in the league at 5-9. He set the NCAA record for career steals in five seasons at Richmond. The 25-year-old, in his second NBA season, made 37 appearances for Memphis this season with 14 starts, averaging 4.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He also made five starts for the G League Memphis hustle.

Brooklyn’s roster now stands at 18 players, including three two-way players in Gilyard, Jaylen Martin and Keon Johnson.

BEN, CAM REMAIN OUT

Ben Simmons (leg soreness) and Cam Thomas (ankle sprain) missed their third consecutive games against Atlanta on Saturday. They remain day-to-day with their respective injuries and the timeline for their return to action is unclear.

“I just know they’re getting back healthy,” Ollie said. “Slowly but surely, they’re getting back on the court, so they’re just still day-to-day. We trust in our medical staff with all our faith that they’re doing the right things off the court to get better and doing their rehab. I know they’re constantly doing their rehab, trying to get better so they can be contributing to this team’s success going forward, so it’s just day-to-day now, but hopefully we’ll see them soon.”

Brooklyn, with Play-In positioning on the line, found itself in a similar situation on Thursday in the first of two back-to-back meetings with the Atlanta Hawks at home. Simmons and Thomas were once again out of the rotation because of injury. But this time Cam Johnson answered the call — and he did so emphatically — pouring in a season-high 29 points with seven 3-pointers in the Nets’ 124-97 defeat of Atlanta.

“Yeah, it feels good,” Johnson said. “I tell you guys all the time, I look forward to this rhythm and feel for the game. It slows it down for you anytime you’re in your comfortable spaces, your comfortable roles, it slows the game down for you and you’re able to process quicker, more efficiently. And sometimes good results follow that.”

It was Johnson’s second straight start following four consecutive appearances as a reserve. He started 3-of-3 from behind the arc and had 18 points by halftime, his second-highest scoring half since being traded to Brooklyn last season.

“He’s a professional,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said. “We talked when I made the decision [to bench him] and he was just a professional. He was just like, ‘What can I do to help our team?’, and we had a great talk and he just accepted his role. And that’s what happens when you’re a good steward over the minutes that you get. God will usually work it out for you. And I think just him believing in himself, believing in the team, doing whatever it takes for the team to win, I think that just bodes very well for his character, and he’s a better person than a basketball player. And I just want to say good kudos to him, he just played lights out tonight.”

Dennis Schröder was on a heater against the Hawks, too, finishing with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in what proved to be his best all-around game since being acquired by the Nets at the trade deadline. Brooklyn improved to 23-36 and are now three games behind Atlanta for 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Dejounte Murray scored a team-high 28 points for the Hawks.

“They’re right in front of us [in the standings,” Schröder said of the Hawks. “We play them two times in a row. So we understood before the game that we had to have that hit first mentality and we did a great job of it today.”

Brooklyn was the aggressor from the start on Thursday night, riding Johnson’s hot had early on offense while playing a stifling brand of defense. It led Atlanta 34-16 after one quarter of action, its largest advantage after one quarter in over a month.

Any Nets criticism on Thursday was reserved for the second quarter, where they were outscored 34-22. The Hawks started the period on a 9-0 run to make it a 39-29 game. Atlanta began to push the pace offensively, which got Murray going and left Brooklyn off balance.

Murray, the Hawks’ top scoring threat without Trae Young available, dropped 14 points in the second quarter to trim the Nets’ advantage to six at halftime. Brooklyn went 9-of-26 from the field in the second quarter but did not allow that cold stretch to deter their effort at both ends of the court. It outscored Atlanta 38-25 in the third quarter to take firm control of the game – and they never let up.

“I just feel like we have to play with that urgency here on out for the rest of the season. It’s unfortunate that we dug ourselves a hole. It’s not what we think our group is capable of. So we have to fight our way out of that and maybe do a little bit extra.

“Tonight is just the start. It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t follow it up in the next game, the following game and keep that energy high.”

The Hawks simply had no answer for the Nets’ offense. Brooklyn shot 51.1% from the field, made 22 3-pointers as a team, had 30 assists on 46 made shots (nine turnovers) and finished with six players in double figures. Even Day’Ron Sharpe, who entered the night shooting 22.2% from 3-point range, went 2-of-2 from deep.

Atlanta was limited to 43% shooting (28.6% from deep) and had 14 turnovers, which led to 25 points for the Nets.

The Nets led wire-to-wire and enjoyed their fifth win of the season of 25 or more points. It was also just the sixth time in franchise history that Brooklyn made at least 14 more 3-pointers more than their opponent.

The next challenge becomes replicating Thursday’s success against the same team on Saturday.

“We hit first,” Ollie said. “Just our energy, our effort, those were things we could control. I’m going to keep saying that. Y’all get tired of me saying that, but that’s just part of me, that’s my coach voice, that’s what I believe in. And we’re just going to continue to be the toughest team. We have to play like that.

“Our recipe that we need to keep cooking is low turnovers and sharing the cake, and I keep saying that over and over again. But when we have nine turnovers and 30 assists, that’s our recipe for winning. And when we have high turnovers, we find ourselves in a tough game. So we just have to continue that. I know Quin [Snyder] is going to make adjustments. He’s going to come out and do his counter punching and we have to step it up to an even higher level to get that win on Saturday.”