The NBA is a lot like nature. It is much easier to be a hunter than a hunter.
The Nets remembered that Sunday in Charlotte.
Brooklyn came out on the plain and paid for it, chopped 106-104 by the hungry Hornets for their first loss of the season.
Aside from Kevin Durant (29 points) and Kyrie Irving (25), the Nets aren’t used to playing with a goal in their back. But with its stars both healthy and playful, Brooklyn could also add colorful bull’s eyes to the back of its Basquiat-inspired t-shirts.
“It simply came to our notice then. … I think we could have played better. I know we could have played better, “said Jarrett Allen.” I know we could have come out and had a lot more energy. I know we didn’t play to the fullest.
“Being in the position we now have with KD and Kyrie behind and we are a complete team, we will definitely have the goal at the back of every game. We will definitely get 100% of each team. So we have to get ready every time. “
The Nets were not very ready, after the first two quarters neglected with an even worse third. They finished with 16 in the fourth, before an 18-4 run got them in two. But they did not approach him.
“It’s good to have that goal on your back,” Durant said. “He’ll get the best out of you.”
Durant lost a potential tiebreaker with just 7 seconds left, and the Nets suffered their first loss of the season after the Golden State and Boston outbursts.
“I do not think so [had] a sense of urgency. We were not very passive, “said coach Steve Nash.” We are going to have a goal in our back and we have to live up to the occasion.
“You think you can be a better team, [but] you will get a much better team than the night before because they see the names on the back of the shirt and they will live up to it ”.
For a Nets team accustomed to being the hunter, this will make an attitude adjustment. They are in the rare position of being hunted, although they have not yet gained anything.
“Being a network all my life is definitely something I’ll have to get used to,” Allen said. “No disrespect to us, but we were never the team at the top. We were always the helpless fighting and looking at other people as targets. And now the roles are reversed.
The Nets were outscored in the 64-26 paint, partly due to some defensive breakdowns in the switches and partly due to 19 business losses that allowed Charlotte to enter transition and early offense. Spencer Dinwiddie left the game with a knee injury in the third quarter and did not return.
Still, the Nets fell just 84-81 in the fourth when they yielded a 13-0 run, with a 3-yard pass from Miles Bridges that made it 97-81 with 7:59 to play.
The Nets tried to reunite, scoring 10 in a row with a Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot 3 that took them out in six.
The race went 18-4, Allen won a trip to the line with 2:20 to play. But after sinking the first, he lost the second to leave the Nets down 101-99. Irving then blocked, causing a corner 3. Devonte ‘Graham. The Nets were left behind by five and never overcame the hump.
Another Luwawu-Cabarrot 3 took them between 104-102 and they had a chance after PJ Washington missed two free throws. Durant ran a two-man match with Irving, had a chance of a 3-point dagger, but grabbed a couple of runs and stretched 9 feet. His shot rolled in and out with 7.4 seconds left.
Terry Rozier’s free throws ensured there would be no OT.
“I thought I would come in. He looked good,” Durant said. “I am sure we will recover this situation throughout the season and I can take advantage of it.
“It was good to play again in a fourth quarter game, to play a game that we had to fight uphill and recover again to return to the game. … They did more work than us. But it was fun to play in that environment again.