AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Nets didn’t have to worry about a fourth-quarter collapse, they weren’t good enough Saturday to have one.
For the fourth straight game — all since starting point guard Jarrett Jack was lost for the season with a torn ACL — the Nets came out flat out of the gate and trailed after a quarter. And Brooklyn never recovered, taking a 103-89 beating at the hands of the Pistons.
The Nets have trailed by a combined 41 points after the first quarter since Shane Larkin has taken over for Jack. Not shockingly Brooklyn (10-27) has lost those four games, and has shown no signs of figuring out how to win without their floor general and emotional leader.
“Everybody’s pretty frustrated, just with the way the whole season’s gone. … It’s definitely frustrating, but all you can do is come back and go to work,’’ said Larkin, who had eight points, three assists and finished a team-worst minus-19.
“We’ve just got to come out with more energy, punch first. You can’t be down 10, 15 points in the first quarter and expect to come back. We’ve just got to play hard from the beginning, fight, not get ourselves in those holes. We’ve got to be better.’’
They would do well to be better Monday when they return home to host San Antonio. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov, chairman Dmitry Razumov and board member Sergey Kushchenko will fly in to watch the game, and could be at Barclays Center again for Wednesday’s game against the rival Knicks, according to NetsDaily.
The Russian ownership had viewed this as a so-called “bridge season.” But more and more it’s looking like the bridge is out.
“It’s been a theme that teams make a run and we can’t really respond after that,’’ said Brook Lopez, who had a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds. “They generate a gap and we have trouble closing it.’’
The Nets make the same mistakes over and over, often a lack of weak-side help and ill-executed rotations. On Saturday that led to Pistons center Andre Drummond rolling free to the rim for 23 points and collecting 11 boards, tying Reggie Jackson for game-high scoring honors as Detroit improved to 21-16.
With Larkin struggling at the point, coach Lionel Hollins put Markel Brown in the lineup looking for ball-handling. The score was knotted at 12-all early before the Pistons ran off nine straight points to seize a 21-12 lead they never relinquished. It was 33-23 by the end of the first quarter.
Saturday continued a disturbing trend of slow starts for the Nets, outscored by 15, seven, nine and finally ten points in the first quarter of their games since the calendar flipped. They trailed by ten again at halftime.
A 9-0 Nets run cut the deficit down to five, and Lopez’s conventional three-point play got them within 64-62 with 4:13 left in the third, but the Nets never could get over the hump and Detroit built the lead back up.
“[At] 69-64 we ran a pick-and-roll and Brook missed a short hook-shot and they went down and scored a 3,” Hollins said. “We came back and there was a technical and a foul, and we went 1-for-3 from the free throw line. It makes it 72-65 and we never were able to be close again. We let go of the rope at that point.’’
Stanley Johnson’s jumper made it 83-70, and just like that the deficit swelled to 90-72 on Anthony Tolliver’s free throws. The only bright spot was Donald Sloan, who came off the bench with 15 points and a team-high 10 assists.
“Now that Jack is out, we’re looking for guys to go out and compete,’’ Sloan said. “The opportunity is there. I want to try and make the most of it every night. I’m not going to make most of the shots, I’m not going to make the right plays [all the time], but at the end of the day it’s competing and trying to win.”