The Nets got Bucked up by Milwaukee yet again. And they have nobody to blame but themselves.
Brooklyn came out flat Sunday, like the Nets would rather be home watching the Super Bowl. And after they dug themselves a huge early hole, Milwaukee buried them in it with a 109-94 laugher before 14,392 at Barclays Center.
“Somehow, for some reason, we weren’t ready. I don’t understand how that happens,” said a vexed coach Kenny Atkinson. “I’m a little upset with our group that we weren’t more ready mentally, physically.”
The Nets (19-35) weren’t ready at all, allowing 36 points in the first quarter and falling behind by 28 in the third. It marked their sixth loss in seven games, and drew Atkinson’s ire. Will it draw lineup changes as well?
“Just that our compete level wasn’t there,” Quincy Acy told The Post of Atkinson’s locker room lecture. “We’ve got to come out better or he’s going to find five guys that will.”
Sure, Milwaukee got a game-high 28 points from Eric Bledsoe and had superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo (16 points, eight boards) before he left in the fourth with a twisted ankle. But make no mistake this was more about the Nets than their foes.
“Like coach said, we weren’t ready to compete from the jump and they just did a better job than us in all facets of the game. Outrebounded us, made more shots than us … got to the free-throw line, made 3s, got stops. I’ve got [no answers] for you,” said Spencer Dinwiddie, who had 10 assists but shot just 3-of-11.
“Like coach said, we all have to look in the mirror as a man, and do our jobs and have a certain focus and compete level from the beginning.”
Brooklyn was always going to have to out-compete the Bucks because they had no shot at out-jumping or out-sprinting them. Milwaukee (29-23) is shockingly long and uber-athletic. And now they’re actually defending for a change.
The Bucks were just 4-7 in Jason Kidd’s final 11 games, yielding 107.9 points per game. But they are 6-1 since, holding foes to 97 points playing for ex-Nets assistant Joe Prunty. And on Sunday the Nets had their shots blocked seven times, held to 41.1 percent shooting and outrebounded 54-36. DeMarre Carroll led the Nets with 15 points and Jarrett Allen added 14, but it wasn’t close.
“You have to be ready from the get-go and I’m very disappointed in that,” said Atkinson, whose Nets trailed 36-22 after the first quarter.
They saw that deficit swell to 69-41 at the start of the second half after consecutive dunks by Antetokounmpo. The Bucks’ five dunks in the first five-plus minutes of the third quarter showed their aerial prowess — and Brooklyn’s lack of grit, exacerbated by the absence of high-energy forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
“They’re a team you have to keep in front, and if they start getting downhill it’s like the flood gates open,” Atkinson said.
The Nets were still down 81-61 with 3:20 left in the third on a pair of free throws by Jabari Parker — back from an ACL injury — before they finally responded. Brooklyn reeled off an 11-0 run, Nik Stauskas cutting it to 81-72 on a corner 3 off a feed from D’Angelo Russell with 1:14 in the period.
But Russell — who had just three points on 1-of-8 shooting, but had seven assists — fouled out with 10:41 left.
Antetokounmpo left the game after stepping on Carroll’s foot, limping off with 7:34 to play. But the Nets couldn’t cash in on his absence.
“It goes back to the beginning of the game and our start,” Joe Harris said. “It just cascaded from there.”