The Nets had a lot going for them heading into their New Year’s Day matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers. The visitors were short-handed, missing their best players and their coach due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, and Brooklyn were coming off a loss. If you didn’t know, the Nets have not lost back-to-back games all season.
Well, both of those factors didn’t matter on Saturday night as the Nets had a fourth-quarter collapse that led to the team’s 120-116 loss.
It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly went wrong for the Nets on New Year’s Day, but head coach Steve Nash knows one aspect of the game he knows needs to be fixed.
“I think 71 points in the second half is unacceptable,” Nash said after the game. “We never really had the care factor to turn it up. We had a chance up 9, 10, 11 [points] in the third and fourth at different times and put our foot off the gas. We got what we deserved.”
“It’s disappointing for all of us. A very winnable game that we let get away,” Nash added.
Brooklyn is sixth in points allowed this season, giving up just a little more than 106 points-per-game. While the 120 points allowed to the Clippers is a cause for concern, it was the Nets’ inability to close out the game that has the team questioning what went wrong.
Up 13 points with five minutes to go, it seemed like the Nets were on their way to avoiding back-to-back losses once again this season, but something was off with this team and not even Nash knows for sure what it was.
“I’d just be guessing. The requisite energy and fight wasn’t there in enough possessions,” Nash said. “You can see it throughout the game, but allowing 71 points in the second half is way outside of what we’ve done this year and we’re going to take it to heart and rebuild.”
James Harden was also perplexed when asked what went wrong in the game, especially the fourth quarter. The second-year Net led the team once again with this second straight triple-double, his seventh of the season. He scored 30 points and posted 12 rebounds and 13 assists in the effort.
“Not sure [what happened]. I know we want to win, but to be willing to do the things to secure the win or to do what we’re supposed to do and I don’t think we did that from the beginning of the game,” Harden said. “We gave the team confidence and let them hang in the game for four quarters and stuff like this happens.”
Kevin Durant also had a great night. He scored 28 points and came down with nine rebounds, but missed a crucial free throw down the stretch that let the Clippers seal the game. The 33-year-old was visibly upset by the loss and echoed a lot of the same sentiments that his coach had.
“We relaxed too much. We get up 10 and miss a layup or turn the ball over and they get a fast break, give up a three… like coach said we didn’t deserve to win this game,” Durant said. “We came in with a f–ked up attitude to start, thinking we were just going to walk into a W.”
The Nets won’t have a lot of time, for better or worse, to stew on this loss as they host the 23-14 Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night. And with the team in a heated race with the Chicago Bulls for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, each game now can factor into the playoff picture down the line.
If nothing else, Durant doesn’t want to let this ugly loss define their season and hopes that a game like Saturday will help the team grow and be better.
“Hopefully a loss like this will sit in your brain until tomorrow,” Durant said. “And go out there and understand what your job is as an individual and how you can be the best at that job and bring it to the collective. It’s always about the collective. If you’re not feeling like s–t after this game then you have to look yourself in the mirror.”