Clippers 101 – Nets 88
LOS ANGELES – Take heart, Nets fans – or fan. You’ve got the Blazers on Sunday. And as you know, the Nets are the Blazers’ daddies.
Hey, the last time the Nets won, it was against the Blazers 16 days ago.
There are the Sonics in the way tonight in Seattle, where the Nets will bring a losing streak that extended to seven games after a 101-88 defeat at the hands of the Clippers here last night. It is the Nets’ longest losing streak since a seven-gamer Jan. 23-Feb. 2, 2001, Byron Scott’s first season.
For the Nets (2-9), this is, of course, a total reversal of recent fortunes for a team that was one of the NBA’s powers. In the past three years, the Nets won 52, 49 and 47 games, a combined won-loss record of 148-98 (.601).
Now they see how the other half lived.
“It’s definitely different. I definitely don’t like it,” Jason Collins said.
A dismal close to the first half left the Nets in comeback mode throughout the final 24 minutes. They were down a dozen in the third quarter but, behind Richard Jefferson (24 points), repeatedly made runs. But just as repeatedly, the Clippers, who sat ex-Net Kerry Kittles (knee), snuffed the Nets with variations of a three.
Marko Jaric (23 points) bagged a 3-pointer when the Nets were within 66-60; Elton Brand (17 points) scored a three-point play after the Nets closed to within 71-64; and Chris Kaman, playing his first game of the season (ankle) scored a three-point play at 8:41 of the fourth when the Nets crawled to within 78-72.
L.A. also received 16 points from Corey Maggette. For the Nets, Eric Williams scored 14, and Alonzo Mourning again was ineffective with 4 points (1-of-5 shooting) in 19 minutes.
Groaning under the weight of the losing streak coming in, the Nets – for the most part – maintained a positive spin, insisting their NBA lot will get better. Still, there was admitted frustration.
“I’m just as frustrated as [anyone],” said Brian Scalabrine (10 points). “You just want to find a way to win games. But on the other hand, you can’t be pressing and stressing. You have to go with the flow of the game. You can’t press it, can’t start stressing about it.”
Yet the Nets seemed starved for offense again. They missed their final eight shots of the first half and sunk into a 48-39 deficit as Maggette and Brand combined for 26 points before halftime. The Clippers (6-6), the second-best shooting team in the league, hit a sizzling 63 percent (17-of-27) and were kept in the stratosphere only through a Nets-like array of 12 turnovers.
At the other end, the Nets struggled after a decent start that was spearheaded by Travis Best (16 points), who made a quick entry after Zoran Planinic ran into foul trouble. Best got the offense in a flow and gave the Nets a 25-24 lead to start the second quarter. But there was little after that; no Net achieved double figures by halftime.
Yet they still think there is hope on the horizon.
“This isn’t over. There’s a lot of the season [left]. We’re still going to win. We’re still going to have a successful season,” Jefferson said. “We’re playing some of the best defense in the NBA. It’s a matter of cutting down turnovers and having guys become a little bit more familiar with the offense, and as long as our defense carries over, we’re going to be all right.”
If you say so.