After Two Crushing Losses, Nets Must Regroup

AP Photo

Things took a rapid turn for the worse this weekend for the Brooklyn Nets.

The Nets followed up promising victories over the Pistons and Suns last week with two straight blowout losses.  They were destroyed by the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, and were run out of their own gym by the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.  With the victory, the Warriors are now an astounding 22-0 on the season.

Something about the defending NBA champions always brings out the best in this Nets team.  They were a Brook Lopez tip-in away from handing the Warriors their first loss of the year last month in Oakland.  This time around, Steph Curry and company made sure that did not happen again.

The Nets played a lot better on Sunday than they did against their cross-town rivals, but it wasn’t enough.  In a matter of two minutes during the third quarter, the Warriors managed to turn a five-point deficit into a seven-point lead.  They did not look back after that.  It was the long ball that did the Nets in on Sunday night, and has been the story of their season.  Curry alone has hit 116 3-pointers in 22 games.  The Nets as a team have made only 93.

Rookie standout Rondae Hollis-Jefferson sat out with a sprained right ankle, and there is no current timetable for his return.  The Nets are way better off with him on the floor, so a lengthy absence could doom Brooklyn even more this season.  Andrea Bargnani and Sergey Karasev also missed the game with various injuries.

Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov was also in attendance.  The Nets have a winning record when he is in the building, but that didn’t help their chances against the best team in the NBA.

Brooklyn still has five games remaining on its current six-game home stand, which is their longest stretch of the season playing games at Barclays Center.  They are a respectable 4-4 at home, while just 1-11 on the road.  Now is the time for the team to regroup and rack up a couple of home victories before the schedule toughens up again next month.