After an embarrassing loss on Tuesday night, you’d think Wednesday night couldn’t get any worse. Well, if you thought that, you probably haven’t watched much of the 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets.
Last night, a severely undermanned Miami Heat team came into the Barclays Center and beat down, for 48 minutes, the Nets notwithstanding the last minute or so. Tonight, in Toronto, the game was actually close throughout until the third quarter, when Brooklyn started to miss every shot they took, be it a free throw, layup or three-point jumper.
In fact, the Nets were even winning by eight after a first quarter in which they were up by as much as 11. To build said lead, they rarely took shots outside of the paint, getting high-percentage layups due to incredible ball movement and just one turnover. And when they did take a jumper, it was relatively uncontested and near-automatic, like during a shootaround.
Ah, but right as the second quarter began, so did the Nets’ long and drawn-out collapse in this important game. They got outscored 31-22 in the frame and had no answer for the Raptors’ bench duo of Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez who combined for 26 points on 11-21 shooting in just 41 minutes. Their preferred scoring methods? Wide open threes and wide open floaters in the lane. Simple solution would be to have guys just stick their arms to contest shots but then again, nothing is simple with this team, ever.
Brooklyn got off to a hot start in the second half, with a Joe Johnson layup and a pair of Mirza Teletovic threes that helped the Nets take the lead. They would quickly give it right back up–sound new?–by allowing Jonas Valanciunas to get open looks, be it a dunk or a layup, one after the other. A 2:23 Nets scoring drought in which the Raptors scored eight unanswered points gave Toronto a six-point lead that wouldn’t be challenged.
The fourth quarter was just a full-on travesty as Lionel Hollins, yet again, refused to put his starters back into the game until less than six minutes were left to go. Guys who played incredibly poorly, such as Bojan Bogdanovic and Jarrett Jack, got the majority of the time in the frame even though they did nothing positive tonight at all. Brooklyn was just down a few hoops but never got the necessary offense to make a run. For most of the quarter, Mirza Teletovic and Deron Williams–who can make stuff happen–were nowhere to be found.
Another game, another disappointment. It’s becoming the norm, not the exception, for the Nets and that’s incredibly disappointing. There is so much talent on this team and some players have real potential–Mason Plumlee will be a star if he can become a 75 percent free throw shooter and Cory Jefferson has all the athletic tools–but for some reason they can’t put it all together.
It’s tough when players are constantly out of the lineup–Nets really missed KG’s toughness and Brook’s interior defense/size/shot-making ability–but at a certain point, these guys are professionals and need to take accountability for their actions. They get paid millions of dollars to play basketball at a high level and just aren’t doing that job right now.
Joe Johnson called out his teammates earlier this year but that didn’t end up having the best results however well-intentioned a move it was. Now, I think it’s time for the team’s resident veteran–Kevin Garnett–to speak up both in the media and to his team. Something has to change and even though an ungodly amount of games are left this season (58 to be exact), the quicker the culture, atmosphere and on-court feeling changes for the better, the higher the chance this team can salvage the season and make some noise in April and maybe even May.
There is just way too much money and draft picks, along with other assets, invested in this group of players for this trash fire to continue without anyone putting it out. I wrote a few days ago about how I think Billy King shouldn’t blow this unit up right now and I still stand by that thought, even though I’m not sure how much longer I can do that in good faith.
I know I’ve over-used the terms “must-win” and “rock bottom” along with other absolute phrases this year but sometimes they’re accurate and now is that time. I believe in Lionel Hollins–his previous success speaks for itself–but this team is treading water very treacherously right now and can sink at any time so as coach, it’s his responsibility to make the necessary adjustments. It’s a cliche, I know, but someone has to step up and right this ship.
Assorted thoughts: The Raptors’ slash line (FG%/3FG%/FT%): 51.3/50.0/68.4. The Nets’: 43.2/33.3/45.5. That is not a mistake. Toronto (10-for-20 on 3FG) actually shot better both from three-point range and from the field in general than the Nets did from the FREE throw line (10-for-22). Literally, it’s called the free throw line because the shots are inherently uncontested and thus, free. Like it’s illegal for free throws to be impeded in any way by the opposing team. Yet, Brooklyn still managed to miss more than half of them, which is a feat rare for even a college team. Any way, the Nets started this game hitting four of their first seven three-point attempts before going 5-for-20 the rest of the game. Now, some of those attempts were closely contested but a good 10-15 of them were either wide open or semi-open. Guys like Bojan, Anderson and Deron Williams are on the floor to hit those very shots. Basketball isn’t that confusing of a game: if you make the good shots the opposing defense gives you, you have a very good chance of winning. The recent great teams–Spurs, Thunder, Bulls, old Heat–do/did exactly that and have been wildly successful. The Nets need to convert on those chances to win games because of their injuries and other weaknesses as they don’t have the–as the YES broadcast tonight mentioned–“margin of error” on offense as other teams do….Brooklyn was stuck on just one turnover committed for much of the first half and was winning the turnover battle handedly before a second half in which Deron Williams (five turnovers, 5-of-15 shooting for 15 points, seven assists) couldn’t hold on to the ball at all and the rest of the team was lost on offense. Deron’s jumper was on point for the most part but he couldn’t finish at the rim and was way off from three. Jarrett Jack, his backup, had a second consecutive awful game but still managed to play 24 minutes. Jack was a team-low -15 and continually was forcing bad shots and couldn’t stop Greivis Vasquez from hitting his trademark floaters at all. Overall, I really like Jack but he’s been brutal lately and honestly doesn’t deserve the minutes he gets….Mason Plumlee–besides his 5-11 free throw mark–scored a career-high 23 points and was great on offense to go with eight rebounds. His problem: defense. Valanciunas got anything he wanted at the rim for the entire game as indicated by his 6-for-7 shooting. Jerome Jordan–I can’t believe I’m saying this–was probably Brooklyn’s best defender tonight and even hit four of his five free throws and grabbed seven boards. The issue is he only was on the floor for 13 minutes, which is really unacceptable for Lionel Hollins. Jordan was the only Net who could stop Valanciunas but for much of the second half he was on the bench, even as the Lithuanian made his scoring run….Mirza Teletovic was hampered a little by his bothersome hip but was the only Net who could capitalize on an open three-pointer. He hit four triples in his 21 minutes and scored 14 points. He needs to stay in the starting lineup, at least until some guys get back from injury, and play upwards of 30 minutes a game if the hip isn’t acting up. Mirza provides the instant offense the scoring-starved Nets need so desperately….Other positives: the Nets blocked eight Raptors shots, they play in the Eastern Conference and Cory Jefferson, who is starting to become an actual NBA player. We know about his athleticism and defensive capabilities but he’s starting to develop a jump shot. He hit a contested 20-footer while the game was still close that showed a ton of confidence and also drilled a corner three later during garbage time. With his frame, a consistent jumper would be incredibly important.
On to the next one: Friday night in Cleveland. Nope, it doesn’t get any easier.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
