Nets Continue To Struggle

The Brooklyn Nets have realized they need to stay ready before and throughout their games after a 130-122 loss to the Detroit Pistons Thursday night.

Brooklyn returned to the Barclays Center after a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers the previous night for what was expected to be an easier win.  The 76ers were in second place in the NBA Eastern Conference and the Detroit Pistons were in last place in the conference, but the Nets struggled to keep up early in the game and fell behind after half time.

“When you’re going against teams in this league they have tendency to come out in the third quarter and try to win that, and tonight I just think we were unprepared,” Kyrie Irving said about the Pistons third quarter push.

Coach Vaughn said the back-to-back game with the 76ers and the team being tired was not an excuse for the loss.

“Whether it’s a back-to-back — I remember four in five nights, three in four, four in six, doesn’t matter, you do what’s necessary, whether that’s taking care of your body, the mental part of it, the work that goes on between days off, days off, between games, game day, to get yourself in a position to win,” he said.

Both teams had energy and engaged in fast play to start the game, but the Nets faced turnovers and trailed the Pistons 30-27 by the end of the first quarter.  Brooklyn fought back and led 59-58 at the end of the second, but Detroit came back after halftime and outscored them 43-31 points in the third quarter alone.  Bojan Bogdanovic scored the first shot of the third quarter for Detroit and Brooklyn never regained the lead, even with an extra push at the end of the fourth quarter.  The Nets trailed only by five points with about one minute remaining in the game, but the Pistons maintained their defense and kept making shots.

“They came out very very aggressive,” Irving said about the Pistons in the third quarter.  “Saddiq Bey, I don’t know how much he had in that 3rd quarter, but he played extremely well.”

Irving said the whole Detroit team was both physical and competitive.  He led the Nets with 40 points, but he couldn’t do it on his own.  All but one of Detroit’s players (Isaiah Livers) scored in the double digits.  Only three of Brooklyn’s players scored in the double digits.  Edmond Sumner added 24 points and Nic Claxton added 27 points and led Brooklyn with 13 total rebounds.

“We’re just giving up too many points, 43 points in the third quarter,” Claxton said. “As a collective unit we just need to do a better job of really just accepting the challenge of guarding the ball and just taking pride in getting stops and rebounds.”

Brooklyn was without Kevin Durant (MCL), Seth Curry (right knee soreness) and Ben Simmons, who head coach Jacque Vaughn said left the game due to soreness in his knee.  Simmons had no points, but led the team with 7 assists in the time he played.

Nets tweeted Jan 24 that Durant’s right MCL was re-evaluated and doctors were pleased with his recovery progress, but he will be reassessed in two weeks. The NBA tweeted Wednesday that Durant and Irving would be starters for the Eastern Conference in the NBA All star game.

The Nets next face the New York Knicks in Brooklyn Saturday.