On January 8, Beijing time, the Nets lost 109-121 at home to the Bucks, losing for the eighth consecutive time to the current top four teams in the East and West. Strong and weak has become a true portrayal of the Nets this season.
Woohoo! A winless win remains a spell the Brooklyn Nets have struggled to break this season.
Losing 2 games in 1 game can be explained by their status, manpower and chance factors, but when the Nets lose for the eighth consecutive time to the current top four teams in the East and West, you can only admit that they are not good enough.
On January 8, Beijing time, the Nets lost 109-121 at home to the Bucks, and the number of wins was equalized by the other side, only to suppress the opponent with the advantage of winning rate. Don't be intimidated by the Bucks' title of defending champion, the Milwaukee with the alphabet brother is strong, but tonight it's just the Broken Lineup Bucks, whose entire guard line is lying in the injury list or health deal, including Ju Holliday, Grayson Allen, Di Vincenzo, Connaughton, George Hill. So like Durant said after the game, "Irving's absence is not an excuse", the Bucks have more difficulties than the Nets in terms of manpower shortage, and the Brooklyns are only less Irving and Joe Harris, which is the most neat moment in their lineup in the past 2 months.
But the Nets still couldn't beat their opponents, and they lost without temper. The League's no. 1 net, who averaged just 21 points in the first 12 minutes of the season, seemed to have set the stage for a bad night. The Bucks were in the barclays center, and Alphabet brother was plagued by fouls and only played 11 minutes in the first half, but he scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting from within the three-point line, giving Clarkston an understanding that his defense was not enough to withstand the MVP-level forwards. Portis continued his amazing form of the season, scoring 20 points and 9 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting in the first half, whether it was a second offense, a mid-range dry pull, or a three-point long-range shot, which made the Nets' defense helpless.
At the end of the two quarters, Nash's side trailed by 11 points on the doorstep, but worse, they looked helpless. The plot is similar to the past few games, Durant 11 shots 19 points and 8 rebounds, struggling to support the offensive and defensive ends, losing 3 fouls to insist on fighting, but in addition to the Lack of Nets firepower, Harden 2 of 10 with 6 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Mills continued to lose 1 of 6.
"We didn't have the fighting spirit at the beginning, we didn't match each other's intensity, and we didn't do enough to communicate." Nash said after the game that this was a real cliché.
Let's take a step back and assume that the Nets really didn't start strong enough, so what about the third quarter? After being suppressed for two quarters on the doorstep, the team is bound to be painful in midfield. Harden has clearly increased his desire to attack individually, scoring 10 points and 2 assists on 4-of-5 shooting in a single quarter, and the whole team looks more energetic. But after 12 minutes, the score was 38-31, and the Nets lost seven more points in a single quarter. If it's just a matter of game intensity and attitude, why did the Nets face the Bucks without a guard for a full second without a lead.
"We just couldn't keep pace, both offensively and defensively. If we want to be a good team, we have to pinch together and I think we'll figure out what to do. Durant said after the game, but the words also looked like the official wording after the loss.
After losing this game, the Nets have lost five times in a row on the Barclays Center home, and the last time they won here was to beat the 76ers on December 17. The team finished first in the league with 14 wins and 3 losses this season, but only 10 wins and 10 losses at home, which was an embarrassing performance. In KD's words: "Winning at Barclays Center shouldn't be so difficult, and if we continue to play this shit-like basketball, I don't expect the team to have any home advantage." ”
But what is even more embarrassing is probably the reality of a strong win, so far this season, the Nets face the current top four teams in the East and West as follows:
Lost 23 points to the Bucks
Heat 13 points
Lost 23 points to the Bulls
Lost 18 points to the Warriors
Losing 6 points to the Suns (up to 22 points behind in the final quarter)
Lost 4 points to the Bulls
Lost to the Grizzlies by 14 points
12 points for the Bucks (20 points before garbage time)
This is not just a matter of winning against the strong, it is a matter of being blown up by the strong and being timid. Averaging 14.1 points in eight games, the Nets were almost all defeated in the third quarter except for the second game against the Bulls. At the beginning of the season, Brooklyn had reasons to say, "We are not that level of team yet", but seeing that halfway through, the team is not embarrassed to think of itself anymore. After all, if the Nets are not that level of team, is Boss Cai's luxury tax of over 100 million yuan paid for a playoff round or two?
Behind such embarrassing performances, the Bigger Problem for the Nets is probably that they don't know how to break the game.
The weakness of the coaching staff is visible to the naked eye, the return of manpower is not equal to the blessing of combat strength, and what people see is that Nash does not understand the rotation. From sticking to the 8-man rotation, to letting the last two games let the lost draft Duke start, Bemburi and Brown each fell out of the rotation half, and then Harden and Durant's 10,000-year-old playing time was full... "It's difficult to determine who plays and who doesn't play, so we have to keep experimenting." It's not easy, we have a lot of people with similar characters and similar functions, so you can't have everyone on the field. At the same time, we have to keep trying, and everyone in the team must understand that the problem is not so simple, and it is impossible to make everyone happy every day. Nash said.
The lack of space continues to be glaring. The Nets shot 6-of-27 from 3-pointers, and after Joha fell, they averaged the first-to-last three-point shooting per game and the third-lowest shooting percentage (31.5%). Mills' dud is equivalent to the Nets losing space, the past 5 games meter "god" is no longer, he is outside the three-point line total 30 of 9, the last three games 17 of 3, when he lost, the Nets offense is extremely stagnant. But aside from Joha, who has weeks to come back, and Irving on the road, who can the Nets trust to save their firepower? Kessler Edwards is a name that keeps being mentioned, and it seems not far from Nash putting him in the test.
And, of course, Harden's state, which is probably the most uncontrollable one. In the first 4 games of Christmas return, MVP Beard killed all four sides, averaging 35.5 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists per game, with a true shooting rate of 61.1%. In the past three games, it is 17.7 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, with a true shooting rate of 52.7%. Who can explain why there can be such a huge gap between weeks and weeks? Harden himself may not know, he said after today's game: "I am very frustrated with my performance, just can't get into orbit, there are 4 or 5 games, both offensive and defensive." There's a phase that happens throughout the season, and it's about trying to climb out of the trough. ”
And in the end, people have to go back to the original problem again and again: Irving. With the Nets outwinning, the Brooklyns struggling, and as they allow Irving to return part-time, the guard's name repeatedly appeared in questions at the post-game press conference. But similar to Harden's state, Irving's mind is just as uncontrollable. Harden said Irving knew how much the team needed him, and Durant said: "I told him how important he was, and I told him I wanted to play with him every game, but I don't force people to get vaccinated in order to play basketball, I don't do that kind of thing." ... He does it when Owen is ready to make a decision, and I trust him. "So the status quo is still that the bell must be tied to the ringer, and everyone is led by Owen's nose."
The Nets are in a tough position, but standing still is only going to get worse. With a drumbeat defense that is on the rise, Durant and Harden's record in the East that have been replaced by full playing time is also in jeopardy, and the Nets' downturn is not so unpredictable. With a trade deadline of 1 month away, the Brooklyn underground undercurrent is surging ...
Wen | Kong Dexin
Edit | Fat Cat