The Brooklyn Nets find themselves in the middle of another losing streak after their 101-91 loss to the visiting Utah Jazz last night at the Barclays Center.
After giving up a 11 point lead late in the third quarter the Nets (8-14) dropped their fourth straight game to the struggling Jazz (10-12). While the Nets shot an incredible 58 percent from the field in the third quarter, Utah’s defense was suffocating for most of the game, but more importantly in the closing quarter of the game. With a 78-70 lead entering the fourth, the Nets offense completely fell apart shooting a horrific 11.8 percent from the field in the closing quarter.
““Listen, they’re one of the best defensive teams in the league,” said coach Atkinson after the game. “We didn’t have open looks and It’s a credit to their defense. I thought they were superb defensively and obviously we weren’t at our best offensively.”
Adding to their poor shooting night was their ball movement. The Nets finished the game with only 11 assists, their lowest total for the season.
“Attribute to their defense and I’m sure some of it’s us. We’ll have to look at it, but the ball stuck way too much. We did not move it when we needed to, so that’s got to be a record for us, 11 assists that’s just not good enough,” continued Atkinson.
At times the Nets looked completely lost offensively. Their shot selection was confusing, their play-calling down the stretch was questionable and their inability to play solid defense with the game still in their grasps was disappointing.
Against Utah the Nets often seemed to force themselves to a win, especially after losing some close games, but instead they found themselves looking like a total disaster.
“We just want to win,” Nets second year center, Jarrett Allen said. “We were up two games in the fourth quarter, so we just want to learn how to close it out.”
But for Brooklyn closing out isn’t just the problem and against the Jazz they showed just how difficult it is for them to play consistently from start to finish. In the first quarter alone, they shot an abysmal 28 percent from the field, which easily contributed to their loss. And while they played solid defense for most of the game, they still had lapses throughout, in particular the closing minutes of the game.
For the Nets who are 3-7 at home, there was no one to turn to that could get them to a win. D’Angelo Russell scored 14 points with 7 assists, but had four turnovers and shot 24 percent on the night off of 6-25 shots from the field. Spencer Dinwiddie scored a team high 18 points, but fouled out in the fourth, and Jarrett Allen and Ed Davis were busy being abused by Rudy Gobert, who finished with 23 points 16 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Utah’s young star Donovan Mitchell also gave the Nets a run for their money as he led the Jazz with 29 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals––14 of which came in the fourth quarter alone.
“You could tell he’s just a talented player,” Allen said. “He just had to get in his stride and unlucky for us it was in the fourth quarter. We tried to stop him but he’s an amazing player.”
The Nets clearly struggle against teams with clear identities, which doesn’t bode well, since most of the league has at least a go-to player and a team identity. But Since losing LeVert their 2-6 record proves that they had a leader of the future, and now they’re just scrapping for wins.
