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| The Nets are up against Kevin Durant's Thunder on Friday and Paul George's Pacers on Saturday. Not the easiest of back-to-backs. |
Monday night's loss at home against the Toronto Raptors, which is the only team to have beaten the Nets so far in 2014 (they've done it twice), was certainly crushing for Brooklyn, who managed–due to a poor D-Will pass–to grab a brutal defeat from a promising victory in the span of just a few seconds.
The setback put the Nets at 20-23 on the season, 2.5 games behind Toronto, the Atlantic Division leader (the deficit is now three games). It also caused the media, and probably the players themselves, to seriously doubt their ability to close out games, especially at home. They're still 10-2 in the month of January, so clearly they're doing something right, but with the NBA's "what have you done for me lately" nature, any recent tough loss outweighs a more-distant big win.
However, that game against the Raptors is said and done, and there's nothing the Nets can do to reverse the result. Now, they just have to focus on their next game, actually, series of games as they take on the Thunder tomorrow night at Barclays in the 1st night of a back-to-back, the 2nd game of which is against the Pacers out in Indianapolis. Two games, two days, maybe the NBA's two best teams.
Granted, the Nets were able to beat Oklahoma City back on January 2nd on the road, garnering a win which kicked off a 10-2 stretch for Brooklyn. But the Thunder team that is coming to Brooklyn right now is much better than the one from less than a month ago. That Thunder team was coming off a tough loss to intradivisional rival Portland. This Thunder team has won nine games in a row and is coming off a blowout road win over the Heat.
The big reason Oklahoma City is playing so well? Kevin Durant, who the Nets are rumored to have serious interest in when he enters free agency, has scored 30 points or more in 12 straight games, a mark that puts him in the company of Michael Jordan, Tracy McGrady, and other Hall-of-Famers. Durant has been unstoppable as of late, and managed to even outplay LeBron when the two matched up last night in Miami. This definitely doesn't bode well for the Nets, and it doesn't easier with the Eastern Conference-leading Pacers on tap for the next day.
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