Suns 112
Nets 80
One team was running on fumes and the other team was simply running on all cylinders. But there were no arguments from the Nets – the one on fumes – on their effort last night against the Suns.
“No excuse,” Richard Jefferson said after the Nets’ 112-80 loss at the Meadowlands.
What went wrong?
“Bad defense, bad offense,” Jefferson said.
Alonzo Mourning put it plainer, saying, “We got our butts kicked.”
Indeed, they were bad.
When the Suns operate, they have a specific goal in mind every game – to score 100 points. They did that in each of their first two games. And they did it again last night, cruising past the century mark with 3:05 left on a thunderous dunk by Quentin Richardson, one of their numerous easy baskets.
Problem for the Nets at that moment was they only had 76 points. And whether tired or not, fatigued or not, they simply are not as good, not as athletic as the unbeaten Suns.
Yup, blowout status was secured when the Suns sent 5-9 Japanese icon Yuta Tabuse into the game for mop-up duty.
Nets coach Lawrence Frank paid respect to the Suns, who beat the Sixers by 10 in Philadelphia Friday night after a season-opening home blowout of Atlanta.
“They are a more athletic version than Dallas,” praised Frank. “They shoot the ball well enough. They’re averaging 110 points. They have Steve Nash, he’s an elite point guard. Jason [Kidd] in my mind is No. 1, but Steve is right there behind him. He’s the head of the snake.”
Problem here was Kidd was in a business suit behind the bench while the snake’s head was directing the fangs straight into the Nets’ collective heart. Nash finished with 17 points and eight assists and just always seemed to make the right play, the right pass when needed.
“And the most impressive thing is they’re holding teams to 39 percent [shooting],” Frank said.
So they held the Nets to 37 (.366, 30-of-82).
The Suns put the game beyond reach with a 12-2 run in the fourth quarter to open up a 95-72 lead (an earlier 14-2 streak had provided a 39-23 edge in the early second quarter). And of course, they didn’t stop with Nash. They had Amare Stoudemire scoring 22 points and grabbing nine rebounds, while Joe Johnson added 18 points.
Richard Jefferson again did all he could – 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists – but collectively the Nets shot like death. Alonzo Mourning, following up on his 26-minute yeoman performance Friday, turned in 18 solid minutes, collecting 12 points and seven rebounds.
After arriving home from at 4 a.m. from their double overtime marathon in Chicago, the Nets shrugged it off as part of the business.
“It’s our job. You just get through it physically; there’s definitely fatigue but you just stay strong,” said Jason Collins.
“You just suck it up,” said Jefferson. “They got in at 2 from Philly. We got to sleep in our own beds. It evens out.”
Not last night, it didn’t. Especially in the second quarter when one-time – and short-time – Knick Maciej Lampe joined Nash in leading an offensive burst that led to a 14-2 run and a 39-23 lead. Lampe bagged three jumpers in the streak (he also hit one off an inbounds at the end of the first quarter). And Nash was, well, Nash. The Nets, with Jefferson sitting on the bench due to early foul trouble, started the quarter at 1-of-7 with four turnovers. It wasn’t pretty.
By the time halftime rolled around, the Suns, who scored 220 points in their first two games, were comfortably ahead with a 16-point lead, 57-41.
The Nets did receive another encouraging effort from Mourning, who dunked and flexed and scowled – and even picked up a technical from hanging on the rim after a dunk.
“It’s unbelievable what he’s done, considering where he’s come from,” Frank praised. “It’s a process. And he’ll continue to get better. I think it’s unbelievable considering where he was 11 months ago.”