Nets coach Kenny Atkinson called the defending NBA champion Warriors arguably the greatest of all time and the ultimate test for his team.
The Nets learned the hard way Sunday that no matter how well you ace the second half of the exam, mess up the first enough and you’ll fail. That was the lesson in a 118-111 loss to Golden State that saw a spirited comeback bid fall short. Barely.
“We were taken by the moment a bit. … They were frozen for some reason,” Atkinson said. “[The Warriors] are a great team. Maybe that was it. But we were on our heels. That’s not us. That’s not how we play. I can’t explain what happened in the first half — why we came out so spiritless and [with a] lack of energy.”
Atkinson saw his Nets give the game away to Golden State (13-4) and spend the fourth quarter trying — and just failing — to seize it back.
Brooklyn (6-10) stormed back from a 28-point third-quarter deficit to get within four with 2 ½ minutes left. The sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center roared when Spencer Dinwiddie put up a shot trying to cut the lead to two in the final minute and groaned when it missed. He finished with 21 points and Allen Crabbe with 25, but the Nets ran out of clock.
“I’d say energy, not being locked in from the start [cost us],” said Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who had 16 points and a dozen rebounds. “We have to put some blame on ourselves. … My energy wasn’t there like it should be from the start of the game.”
Crabbe added: “It was not enough energy, not enough physicality. I guess you could say we did give them too much respect because of the name. I feel like with a team like that, you’ve got to hit first.”
Instead the Nets got hit, floored, and had to show something just to get off the deck.
They didn’t face Kevin Durant (ankle), but Steph Curry had 39 points, 11 boards and seven assists, although he had seven turnovers and fouled out with three minutes left.
The Nets had fallen so far behind, even Curry’s departure couldn’t save them. A 13-2 first-quarter Warriors run put them in a 21-12 hole, and they fell behind 64-42 after a first half that saw them shoot just 28 percent.
“I really had a bad taste in my mouth at halftime,” Atkinson said. “Our compete level was down, and our spirit wasn’t where it should be. … Our offense was historically poor in that first half. And defense, we just weren’t very good. Usually we show film at halftime. There was no film. It was, ‘We’ve got to get back to competing.’ ”
He challenged the team leaders, and DeMarre Carroll told his teammates to start attacking the Warriors’ switches.
The Nets trailed 78-50 after Curry’s pull-up with 8:34 left in the third but started chipping away, fighting through screens on defense and attacking switches on offense.
Brooklyn trailed 98-78 with under a minute left in the quarter and 104-88 on a step-back by Klay Thompson (23 points) early in the fourth. But even after losing Trevor Booker (ankle), they mounted a 15-3 run, Quincy Acy taking a charge that fouled Curry out and Carroll sinking a free throw to make it 107-103 with 2:38 remaining.
Crabbe hit 3s to get them within five at 1:42 and again with 1:11 left. But when Dinwiddie missed a potential 3 with 30.3 seconds to play, the game was over.
“Brooklyn brought it and I give them credit,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They set the tone. We had to withstand their run and luckily we did.”
“Go out there and compete,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “We try to hold our heads up. First half, we couldn’t say we did that. Second half, come out and compete.”
They did. It was just too late.