The Delaware Blue Coats fell to the Long Island Nets on the first night of a back-to-back two-game home series on the heels of a disastrous fourth quarter. Nolan Traore was responsible for the Nets' early control of the game, and EJ Liddell slammed the door shut on the Blue Coats' spirited comeback attempt.
The Blue Coats got off to a rough start defensively, and Nolan Traore, the nineteenth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, took advantage. He scored the game’s first bucket and drilled a three on their next possession down the floor for five early points. The Blue Coats' woes on the defensive end soon plagued them on the offensive end. MarJon Beauchamp was very undisciplined in the first, committing four turnovers and playing like a bull in a china shop. Nate Williams and Traore would each hit another long-distance shot to extend the Nets' early lead.
“You know, I just got to be better. That’s on me,” Beauchamp said about his early giveaways. “I don’t think they sped me up or nothing like that. I got to be better, that’s all.”
Nolan Traore was the story of the first quarter. Playing just over half the quarter, he poured in 13 total points on a perfect 5/5 shooting from the field. Every time he rose up to shoot, it felt like it was going in, and the Blue Coats relished the opportunity to close the quarter without him on the floor. Luckily, the Blue Coats were able to match the Nets' shooting output by hitting five of their own long-distance shots in the quarter to the visitors’ six.
Igor Milicic and Emoni Bates were able to stem the tide for the Blue Coats when they checked into the game. The pair combined for 12 points in the quarter and were part of a strong finishing act for the home team as they cut the lead to just five after trailing by as many as 14. The first quarter ended with the Nets leading 36-31.
The second quarter brought some quick controversy. In just the first two minutes of the quarter, EJ Liddell committed a flagrant foul for the Nets, and Emoni Bates did the same moments later for the Blue Coats. Nolan Traore also checked back in and just as quickly checked back out after getting hurt on a layup attempt that went crashing to the ground. After a few extended minutes of reviews, the game returned to its normal pace.
Emoni Bates would continue his hot start from the field, matching Traore’s first-quarter perfection, and without him, the Blue Coats would have been out of this one early. Bates tallied 10 points in the second quarter and was able to control the pace of the game when he was in there.
Kennedy Chandler found a nice driving lane to get his second bucket off-glass and cut the deficit to just five points again, but their turnover issues continued to follow the Blue Coats. After being gifted a miss on a one-for-two free throw, Delaware immediately coughed up the ball that went back the other way for a Nate Williams and-one. Williams would hit another three and play great defense on the struggling MarJon Beauchamp to extend the Nets' lead to eight with half the quarter to play.
When Traore checked back in after being looked at on the bench, he got right back to his old ways and hit a three that extended the Nets' lead back to six. That’s when Malcolm Hill and reigning NBA G League Player of the Week, Kennedy Chandler, would help the home team close out the half in a positive manner. The two combined for seven points from the charity stripe that bought the Blue Coats time to regroup as the half wound down. Chandler had 13 points and four assists in the first half and put on a highlight reel of transition passes and nifty pocket passes in the halfcourt.
The Nets’ Nate Williams had himself a strong first half, depositing 15 points of his own after a really stellar shooting display in pregame warmups where he seemingly did not miss at all. His contributions allowed the Nets to maintain the lead they had built. The two teams entered the locker rooms with the Nets only leading 65-61 despite having the advantage in shots made, threes made, second-chance points, fast break points, points in the paint, and committing three fewer turnovers. The Blue Coats did score four more points from the free-throw line, but the Nets certainly would have liked to be leading by more.
The Blue Coats came out in the second half with a renewed sense of energy, knowing they could steal this game if they played with more control. Nolan Traore would commit a foul right away, and MarJon Beauchamp would get two at the line. Malcolm Hill hit a midrange shot and followed that up with stout interior defense on the other end. Hill would find a cutting DeAndre Williams that shaved the Nets' lead to just two. Beauchamp would tie the game at 69 with a transition bucket of his own that forced the Nets to call a timeout.
Jaylen Martin checked into the game for the first time for Delaware and hit the layup that finally gave the Blue Coats their first lead of the game. The Nets would take it right back with consecutive long balls from Trevon Scott and Tyson Etienne.
That is when Emoni Bates checked back in for his first stint of the second half, and the good fortunes would continue for the Blue Coats when he was on the floor. MarJon Beauchamp came alive and scored eight straight points that finally gave the home team an extended lead for the first time in the game. Beauchamp had 14 points in the third quarter alone.
Bates made a really difficult shot to put the Blue Coats up seven, and the Nets called a timeout again. They would stabilize themselves a bit down the stretch and get four points at the line and a dunk from David Muoka. Malcolm Hill missed his one-for-two free throw to end the quarter, and the Blue Coats went to the bench with a 91-88 lead.
The final frame saw a trading of buckets early on that would tie the game at 95, and that is when the first quarter Blue Coats, unfortunately, decided to rear their ugly head, and all the good they had done to get themselves back into the game began to unravel.
In the preceding four minutes of game action, Long Island went on a 20-2 run that essentially ended the game with half a quarter left. EJ Liddell picked the perfect time to make his presence felt. Liddell would score 11 points during the onslaught, pull down seven boards, and emphatically blocked Igor Milicic in the paint. The Blue Coats had no answer for his individual brilliance, and they were never able to recover.
“We missed open shots and they got too many easy looks,” Blue Coats head coach, JP Clark said about the game-breaking Nets run in the fourth. “Too many one-on-one drives into the paint where they either kicked out for three or scored in the paint, so we got to make them work a little bit harder offensively.”
Emoni Bates had to leave the game until garbage time with five fouls, Kennedy Chandler picked up a technical out of frustration, Beauchamp went ice cold, and that was all she wrote. They showed real resilience to fight back in the first half, and it all came crashing down in the span of four minutes. The Blue Coats made only two baskets over an eight-minute stretch of the fourth quarter to add insult to injury. The Long Island Nets won comfortably with a final score of 125-106, led by Nolan Traore’s impressive and efficient 30 points and EJ Liddell’s crunch-time heroics. The Blue Coats will get their chance for revenge on Saturday night.
