For yet another night, the Nets were the less-prepared, worse-executing and overmatched team as they lost their fifth-straight game, this time to the surging Detroit Pistons.
Outside of a small pocket of time in the second quarter, Brooklyn was losing all night. Without Deron Williams (fractured rib), Jarrett Jack was in the starting lineup again and Darius Morris was pressed into service as the first, and only, point guard off the bench. To break the suspense, neither of them was particularly good this evening as the pair combined for 15 points on 6-22 shooting.
The Nets, although they were stuck in perpetual catch-up mode for much of the 48 minutes behind the Pistons, which were led by 20 second half points from Brandon Jennings, were well within striking distance as the game wound down. However, whenever Brooklyn was down just a basket or two, they managed to either turn the ball over (14 team turnovers, three for Jack) or miss a contested shot off a stagnant possession.
On the other hand, Detroit was able to get an open opportunity most every time down the floor, even though a lot of good shots–many from three (11-33 from long-range)–didn’t fall for them. If they did, this would have been a much bigger loss for the Nets.
Even with all this said–and their dismal shooting from three (9-31 for 29 percent) included–somehow the Nets had a chance to tie this game at the 3:56 mark of the fourth quarter after flirting with making a comeback for over a quarter.
Ironically, Joe Johnson’s floater in the lane was open and came off some surprising ball movement from Brooklyn. But, he wasn’t able to convert and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was able to get the rebound and race down the court for a layup that gave Detroit some separation. On the next time down, Caldwell-Pope stole the ball from Jack leading to a Jennings bucket which essentially salted this one away.
Things are getting more and more dire each loss for the Nets, who clearly have no direction right now. They can’t shoot very well, don’t play much defense and have a stunning tendency to commit bad turnovers. Put those together and you wind up with a team that is five games under .500.
Assorted thoughts: Simply put, if the Nets had made just a few more of the open threes they took tonight, maybe we’d be talking about a win instead of another crushing loss. Jarrett Jack, who is not a good three-point shooter in the slightest, was 1-8 from three, for example. The only circumstance in which he should even think about attempting eight triples is, um, maybe, okay never. If Jarrett Jack takes up eight of a team’s possession by taking threes, that team should automatically lose. Also, Bojan Bogdanovic missed all three of his attempts while Mirza went just 1-4. Heck, even Brook Lopez was 1-2 from deep with the “1” being his first career made three. Any way you put, it’s not good, not one bit….Brook grabbed 15 rebounds, which is probably the most he has had in some time. But, because it’s impossible for him to ever play a complete game, he went just 3-9 from the field. Can’t win ’em all….Joe (18 points on 14 shots) and Alan Anderson (13 on seven) were Brooklyn’s only decently efficient scorers in this one and even they missed a bunch of very makeable shots that could have altered the outcome of this one. This team is just in the middle of a seemingly endless shooting slump that makes it incredibly hard for it to pull ahead in game for wins. Thankfully for the Nets, the East is awful and they’re still right in the think of the playoff race.
Onto the next one: Monday night at Barclays against the Rockets.
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