It was a game they had to win.
The Miami Heat were without Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and sure, Josh McRoberts (even though he isn’t very good) while the Nets were at complete full strength. Yet, the Nets continued to do Nets things and shot a futile 41.4 percent from the field en route to a 95-83 home loss that leaves the team at a disappointing 95-83 record.
The first half was good enough and Brooklyn actually showed some ball movement and hit some shots. Hey, some Heat players were actually defended whilst shooting! The Nets were up by five at the half.
And that’s the end of the positives. Brooklyn’s 43-38 intermission advantage quickly became moot, just like the eight-point lead the Nets had in the second quarter. A half-opening five-point row from the Heat tied the score up and permanently swung the momentum in Miami’s favor.
The Nets were able to scrap back ahead a few times in the third quarter but were mainly down big, by as much as 10 points. Brooklyn had no answer for former second-round pick James Ennis or Chris Andersen or Mario Chalmers or Chris Bosh or Shabazz Napier or even Norris Cole. Former Net washout Shawne Williams contributed a big three to the cause as well.
Every time the Nets made a comeback effort with a Bojan Bogdanovic three for example, Miami responded with one of their own. This game took a similar feel to Saturday’s loss in Portland in that, at least in the second half, it felt as if the Nets never really had a chance, and they didn’t.
In the fourth quarter, Brooklyn had some chances to actually cut the deficit to a manageable margin. At the 5:45 mark of the final frame, a Deron Williams free throw made the score 82-78 in Miami’s favor. The Nets then went scoreless for over two minutes before a Bosh jumper made it 84-78.
Jarrett Jack cut it to four again with a pair of free throws. Did the Nets then get a much-needed stop to keep the game in check? Nope, they promptly let Chalmers go right to the basket for his easiest two points of the game. That was the ballgame.
Some other observations I had from the game: The Nets, a professional basketball team that pays its players millions of dollars a year, made just 16 of their 26 free throws tonight. For all you non-math majors, that’s barely over 60 percent. In school, a test grade under 65 percent is normally considered an F. Looks like Brooklyn flunked tonight. Oh, and by the way, the Heat were 24-for-27 from the charity stripe. That’s 88.9 percent…Did anyone tell Brook Lopez or Joe Johnson that there was a game tonight? Yet again, Brook was flat-out terrible, making just two of his eight shots and grabbing ONE rebound in 22 minutes. He scored five points. That’s simply unacceptable if the Nets are going to be halfway decent, which it appears that they just might not be. He’s supposed to be the most consistent and reliable scorer for this team and he put up another dud in a long line of them from just this season. Scoring aside, the total lack of any rebounding presence is downright scary. What other 7-footer, maybe other than Andrea Bargnani on the crosstown mess that is the New York Knight, can’t grab more than one rebound in 22 minutes? None. Also, Joe did absolutely nothing positive in this game. He had multiple open shots, both twos and threes, and couldn’t hit ’em, going just 2-for-9 from the field. And he played 37 minutes. Him and Brook combining for 11 points in 59 combined minutes is disgusting, to be completely honest. These guys’ jobs are to show up 82 games a season and be prepared to execute a gameplan to defeat the other team. They didn’t earn their game checks tonight and I feel bad for the thousands of people who paid for tickets to see the game. They didn’t deserve this garbage and something needs to change. It all starts at the top, with Lionel Hollins, who needs to take control of his team. I realize he’s only coached the Nets for 10 games, but this is a job for his too and right now, he’s failing at it…Deron didn’t help much, shooting just 4-of-13 and scoring 14 points after a quick start. But, he contributed in other facets of the game such as forcing turnovers (four steals), finding open teammates (seven assists) and even corralling rebounds (five). When your point guard has five times as many boards as your center, there’s a problem…Bojan Bogdanovic and Jarrett Jack were just about the only Nets who had any damn idea about what they were doing on the court tonight. Bojan hit four threes and scored a team-high 22 points on just 11 shots. Jack, who appears to be an extremely up-and-down player, poured in 15 points to go with four assists. If only the Nets’ best players could step up every night, as they do on most other teams, then this team wouldn’t be mired in a four-game losing streak and in the near-cellar of a bad Eastern Conference.
Looking Ahead
The possible trashfire that is the 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets is at home again on Wednesday night before taking the road again. Jason Kidd, an old friend, will be in town with his upstart Milwaukee Bucks looking to hand the Nets their fifth-consecutive loss. That shouldn’t be too hard a task if Brooklyn plays as poorly in two days as it did tonight.
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