Once again, the Nets respected the game by facing a losing enemy.
And once again, they were served a huge slice of humble pie, this time a 122-111 loss to Detroit against the worst basketball team.
This time, the Nets saw the last-placed Pistons lead by 20 points in the second quarter, reducing them to two in the third before capitulating in the fourth.
“My message was personal pride, connectivity and togetherness. Only resistance. We can’t start the game by 10, go down by 20 in the second half hoping it’s easy, ”coach Steve Nash said.
“You have to want to fight with your teammates, make it very hard with the other team, make them miserable. We didn’t do it. … We have a lot to clean up. The first thing is this attitude and this level of competence and that connectivity. These are things that can’t be drawn, that can’t be practiced. You just have to wear it and I didn’t hear it for 48 minutes. “
Kyrie Irving, back from his absence in a game and playing with tape on his injured right index finger, finished with 27 points, but shot just 12 of 28 and 2 of 9 from deep. James Harden added 24 points and 12 assists, but had seven losses.
The Nets (14-12) left the third consecutive season as the worst of the season and continued to play in the competition. They are the best in the NBA by 7-1 against teams of .500 or more, but fell to 7-11 against losing teams.
“I don’t accept it, I don’t think our team accepts it,” Irving said. “We don’t want this to be what our teams think. We are seeing teams come in every day and they hit us in the mouth soon, and we catch up; and goes against the boys with the [worst] records. We have to call it what it is and we have to fix it. This requires maturity, requires responsibilities, and becomes aware of what we need to do to move forward.
“It simply came to our notice then. We have the talent that proves the sight [shows] we should dominate. … We have to turn that corner. We haven’t done it yet, but we will. And I tell you that the league will be notified when that happens.
If anyone was looking up in the dictionary (okay, well, Googled), a cheat game, the Pistons (6-18) would have been the definition.
But facing the worst league team in the league, the Nets let the Pistons reach a maximum of 55.4%. Jerami Grant added 32 points and Delon Wright added 22.
After Joe Harris opened the night with a 3, the Nets allowed a 13-0 run and were left behind by 10 in Grant’s cutting dunk. They never regained the lead.
Brooklyn finished the first quarter 38-26, with an abysmal defensive mess. Irving stared at the switches, the Nets were hit by the regattas or sucked in to help when their teammates did, leaving their men open for dunks and throws.
The Nets yielded an 8-0 run, trailing 49-29 in Isaiah Stewart’s triple with 9:14 at halftime. And no one was more guilty than DeAndre Jordan, beaten several times. Harden had several lively conversations during the first half with him, as did Nash.
“Defensively we have some slips. We need to be better. I mean, [crap]I have to be better for us defensively, ”admitted Jordan. “We all have to be better, but I get a little more ownership because it’s something I love and a big part of why I’m here for us. We have to be better, but I take a lot of it ”.
Jeff Green’s goal made it 63-54 at the break. With Bruce Brown replacing him to start the half, the Nets rode a 7-0 run to make it 74-70.
Irving’s 3 reduced the deficit to 79-77 with five minutes to go. But the Nets allowed a 7-0 run to see the score sink again to 101-89 with 8:54 to play.
“It just falls on us and lets us know that you can’t control the game like before,” Jordan said. “Hopefully we learn from this skating that we’re in right now and we respond.”