After the shooting clock expired Tuesday night, consolidating another disappointing game for the Brooklyn Nets, coach Steve Nash begged his players to look inward and wonder “what kind of team they want to be ”.
“I don’t think we come out every day of our lives and sacrifice time to be average in anything,” Kyrie Irving said after Brooklyn’s third straight loss. “And we see a lot of media. And we have the talent that presents the eye test that we should master.”
This season, Brooklyn has developed a pattern of playing incredibly tough (and often overtaking) teams towards the top of the standings, but losing against the league’s inhabitants. In fact, with the 122-111 loss to Detroit on Tuesday, the Nets are now 7-11 against teams with a record below .500, most of those losses in the league.
Jerami Grant tied his career with 32 points for the Pistons. Irving, who was playing with a torn index finger, finished with 27 points and seven assists. James Harden added 24 points and 12 assists.
Brooklyn runs out of Kevin Durant, who is part of NBA coronavirus contact tracking protocols until at least Friday after being exposed to an employee of the team who tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
Detroit jumped to the first double-digit position and controlled the game for nearly 48 minutes. For a timeout in the first quarter, Harden seemed to hold a lively conversation with DeAndre Jordan about the team’s defensive effort. Throughout the game, Nash sidelined Jordan several times.
“I don’t think they were necessarily catching him,” Nash said. “It’s an emotional sport. We get in the hole and then we get a little excited.”
Jordan, who said he didn’t remember what Harden had specifically said, admitted he needed to be better on defense.
“I have to be better for us, defensively,” Jordan said. “We all have to be better. But I have a little more ownership at this end of the ball because that’s something I love and a big part of why I think I’m here for us. I have to be better, but I take it. a lot “.
Since the Nets switched to James Harden in mid-January, they rank last in defensive efficiency, according to ESPN Stats & Information. And while the Reds were able to reduce the Pistons ’lead to a single digit, they were never able to overcome the hump.
“A lot of teams come out very comfortable against us,” Irving said. “And then the feeling of the rest of the game is that we’re playing to the beat and that’s not the way to play as a competitor, always always.”
“We just have to turn that corner. And we haven’t done it yet, but we will. And I tell you the league will be warned when that happens.”