Saturday’s home game against the Clippers had all the makings of a blowout win for the Nets. Brooklyn had one of its smallest injury reports of the season so far, while Los Angeles was missing 10 players due to a combination of injury and health and safety protocol. Kevin Durant is back in the lineup and a few days removed from a 33-point night, and James Harden has been scoring like his old self.
Unfortunately for the Nets, they approached the game as if it was an easy walkover, and that attitude came back to haunt them in the fourth quarter.
Despite holding a 12-point lead with 5:27 to play in the fourth quarter, the Nets collapsed in the final minutes, as Eric Bledsoe and Justise Winslow powered the short-handed Clippers to an incredible comeback victory.
After the game, Kevin Durant sounded off on the team’s attitude, and agreed with coach Steve Nash’s assessment that the Nets didn’t deserve to win.
“Like coach said, we ain’t deserve to win this game. We came in here with a f–ked up attitude to start, thinking we were just gonna walk into a W”
– Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/HdRt8u6ZEf
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) January 2, 2022
“We just relaxed too much. We get up 10 and we miss a layup or turn the ball over. They get a fast break, give up a thee, straight line drive. Like coach said, we ain’t deserve to win this game. We came in here with a (expletive) up attitude to start, thinking we was just going to walk into a W.
…. Hopefully a loss like this will sit in your brain until tomorrow, you know what I’m saying? Go out there and understand what your job is as an individual and how you can be the best at that job and how you can bring it to the collective. It’s always about the collective. So if you ain’t feeling like (expletive) after this game, you’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror.”
Durant also warned that the Nets will continue to struggle unless they change their attitude heading into games.
“We’re going to continue to get our (expletive) kicked if we don’t approach the game in the proper way.”
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NBA Twitter reacts to the Brooklyn Nets’ late collapse against the Clippers
