And you thought the Nets’ road trip was bad? Apparently Brooklyn hadn’t bottomed out. Not even close.
The decimated Nets — or what’s left of them — suffered a buzzer-to-buzzer, 126-91 beating at the hands of Boston before a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center.
The defeat stretched their losing skid to nine, the longest in the NBA and their worst since dropping 16 in a row from Jan. 21-Feb. 25, 2017. And it saw them fall from atop the East on Jan. 22 to eighth, and in the play-in.
So, is it time to worry about Brooklyn?
“I don’t think it’s a case of worrying: It is what it is. There’s not much we can do,” coach Steve Nash said. “We control what we can control, and that’s how we support these guys through this.
“What are we going to [do]? We can’t magically repair those injuries and have everyone back and go back to their natural roles and positions. That’s something that we’re just going to have to continue to play through until the time comes.”
The time can’t come soon enough for Brooklyn (29-25), missing their entire intended starting five coming out of camp for one reason or another.
Kevin Durant and Joe Harris are presumed out until after the All-Star break, Kyrie Irving is unvaccinated and ineligible at home, and James Harden and Nic Claxton are hamstrung. LaMarcus Aldridge is hurt as well, leaving the Nets in dire straits.
“Obviously you know who we have out,” said James Johnson, who had 17 points and five assists, pressed into emergency point guard duty. “But it’s a good building process for us, a good time to let us know who we have, and it’s time to really be in the trenches. So staying together’s really important.”
Jevon Carter had a season-high 21 points, while Cam Thomas added 17 for this threadbare roster.
“Frankly, that’s a really good starting five that’s playing really good basketball, playing against a reserve lineup,” Nash said. “We’re asking a lot of these guys. It’s not necessarily fair to expect Patty Mills to be our lead ball-handler and scorer against Marcus Smart. It’s a tough, tough matchup against a ton of pressure.”
That pressure got Brooklyn down by two touchdowns right out of the gate. They missed their first eight shots and saw the Celtics drain six of their first eight, a 3-pointer by Jaylen Brown (22 points, nine assists) making it 14-0.
By the time Blake Griffin finally broke the drought with 7:49 left in the first, the contest was already over.
The Nets fell behind 28-2 on a finger roll by Jason Tatum (19 points), and it was hard to say which end of the court was the bigger problem, the Nets shooting just 1-of-15 with five turnovers and letting Boston hit 12-of-15The deficit reached 85-50 on a 3 by Marcus Smart (22 points) with 6:42 left in the third. It got so ugly that when the TNT feed of the game went out, it left many to joke that they’d quit on the non-contest to show Phoenix and Philadelphia.
For his part, Nash hasn’t felt any heat from the front office during this skid.
“It’s not come up,” he said. “We recognize the position we’re in. We’re undermanned. We know what our record was when we were healthy. We’re just going through a tough period.” he said. “There’ll be growth from this regardless of how long it lasts. We’ve just got to keep our guys supported. It’s a tough stretch for them to go through; there’s no other way out than to keep our heads down and stay together.”
The Nets are banking on health, the knowledge they were 24-12 with Durant. Irving will be eligible Thursday in Washington, and with two more days to rest (and the trade deadline having passed), there is hope of a Harden return.
“Stay together. Keep talking through it,” Johnson said. “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.”
