Nets crush lottery pick rival Trail Blazers after Cam Johnsons big night

PORTLAND — If the NBA ever starts tanking investigations, a night like Tuesday should give Brooklyn blanket immunity. In a game against their closest lottery rival, the Nets not only got back injured regulars Cam Johnson and D’Angelo Russell but led wire-to-wire in a comprehensive 132-114 rout of the Trail Blazers. Their tank-happy fans will almost certainly deride the victory as Pyrrhic.But for the Nets themselves, they’ll call it a sweet one. Brooklyn (14-26) snapped a five-game losing skid, and did it behind a fairly complete team effort.

Their passing carved up the Portland defense for 36 assists (a season-high) — nearly double the Blazers’ 20 — and just 13 turnovers. The 132 points and 54.4 percent shooting were also season highs for regulation, as were their 29 fast break points. Johnson poured in 24 points in his first game since Jan.2 in Milwaukee — coincidentally their last victory before Tuesday.

Ben Simmons flirted with a double-double (game-high 11 assists and nine rebounds). And in the end, they never trailed, led by as much as 16 and cruised to victory. It should be noted the win moved the Nets a half-game ahead of Portland in the standings — or more accurately, dropped them from sixth to seven in the lottery standings. But the lottery is capricious. It’s part of the reason Brooklyn GM Sean Marks has collected not just the NBA’s biggest horde of draft picks (31) but also the league’s largest cache of cap space ($65 million). The more avenues to build — the more bites at the proverbial apple — the better. But a team has to weigh the potential of a pick, the worth of every prospect.And it must measure the benefit of the experience its young players get in a tank against the damage that all those inevitable losses can inflict. Draft picks are no guarantee. Brooklyn’s Ziaire Williams — who had 13 points on 3-for-4 shooting from deep — had been a former lottery pick given up on by Memphis as a salary dump.

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