Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse in Brooklyn the Nets completely outdid themselves on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center with what is without question their most disheartening loss of the season at.
The Nets (8-18) were hot through three quarters, scoring 88 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder (16-7) before the losing 114-112 in the final period. The ball movement was at times seamless, the shots were falling with six Nets scoring in double figures, including Allen Crabbe who finished with a team high 22 points finding his way out of a brutal shooting slump.
Everything was working and it seemed like the seven game losing streak would come to an end and then the expected happened.
With the Nets leading by as many as 23 points late in the third and 19 with 8:35 left in the game, Thunder all star forward Paul George, put his team on his back and willed them to victory.
George played like a man possessed in the Thunders victory, outscoring the Nets 25-19 in the fourth quarter––including a game-winning three-point dagger with 3.1 seconds left. The nine-year veteran finished the game with 47 points and 15 rebounds.
“He’s a high caliber basketball player. For a guy like that, I’m pretty sure it only takes one or two baskets to go in before he starts feeling like the rim is really big. Everything that he started shooting was going in,” said Nets shooting guard Allen Crabbe, who hit 7 three-pointers for Brooklyn.
But George and the Thunder weren’t the only reasons for the Nets eighth loss in a
So what went wrong against the Thunder? Well for starters their fast paced offense became stagnant the moment George began hitting shots.
It was like a sudden panic from guys like D’angelo Russell (17 points, and 4 assists) and Spencer Dinwiddie (17 points). The Iso ball began and what was a well flowing offense turned into a four assist fourth quarter, resulting in some terrible shot selection, including a three-pointer by Russell with 10.8 seconds left when there still were 8.7 seconds on the shot clock.
“The D’Angelo (Russell) one at the end of the shot clock, it’s just something he’s gotta learn. You’ve got take the shot clock down, you’ve got to leave them with little time on the clock, but that’s just a learning thing for a 22-year-old point guard,” said Kenny Atkinson after the game.
The Nets also committed four turnovers in the final period, and made some terrible passes in crucial moments in the game, one of which was the final inbound play that could have given them the opportunity to take the lead with 3.1 seconds left in the game. On the inbound Jared Dudley caught the pass but slipped, leaving 0.1 seconds on the clock after a timeout and giving the Nets their tenth home loss of the season.
Since the injury to Caris LeVert Brooklyn is 2-11, their record at the Barclays Center is now 3-10, and with the Toronto Raptors on Friday, it feels like their ninth straight loss is on the horizon.
Especially with the mood in the locker room.
“Honestly, it’s deflating. You can’t really dive into how it feels. That’s the only word I can come up with right now,” Crabbe told reporters after the game. “That’s probably like the third or fourth game we could have won.We played great all three quarters but it just goes to show you have to play all 48 (minutes). I mean, that’s all you can really say.”
But what is difficult for the Nets going forward is figuring out what their major flaws are in the basketball court.
“We literally do nine or 10 things to lose the game. Some of it is mental,” said veteran forward Jared Dudley who feels like the Nets are in a constant cycle during this losing streak. “It’s like the ‘Groundhog Day’ movie.”
While they still have a lot to figure out, Dudley points to their isolation offense, which takes them away from “Brooklyn Basketball” and makes them easy to defend.
“Right now, we’re not good enough to go one-on-one and score at a high rate,” continued Dudley. “Caris is not coming back anytime soon and he masked a lot of stuff.”
The Brooklyn Nets look broken, and with a roster full of veteran players their should be a more competitive hunger, but they just fall short. With only a quarter of the season in the books they have to figure out how this current team can get some wins, but some really do have faith that it will turn around in Brooklyn.
“We’ve got to fight through this. We’re playing good basketball, and hopefully, the basketball gods will reward us,” said Atkinson.
