NBA-worst Nets get much-needed break

Injured Lin to Return Following Brooklyn’s Annual All-Star Hiatus

February 16, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brook Lopez enjoyed a historic performance Wednesday night at Downtown’s Barclays Center, but the Bucks proved too tough an opponent as Brooklyn lost its 14th straight game. AP photo

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The Nets spent most of Wednesday night chasing the Bucks around the Barclays Center.

They never quite caught them.

In its final game before the annual All-Star break, NBA-worst Brooklyn put up very little defensive resistance en route to a 129-125 loss to Milwaukee before a crowd of 16,182 on the corners of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues.

“I felt like, kind of [a] typical game before the All-Star break,” noted first-year Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson after watching his fatigued unit suffer its season-high 14th consecutive loss while extending its franchise-record home skid to a whopping 16 contests.

“The game was just being played,” Atkinson added. “There wasn’t a lot of defense. I felt like we had that attitude we can’t have. Our margin of error is just not that.”

The Nets allowed former Brooklyn head coach Jason Kidd’s Bucks to shoot a blistering 57 percent from the field. They also committed 17 turnovers and never seriously threatened Milwaukee after allowing a 15-4 run to open the third quarter.

“They’re like a herd coming at you and it’s forceful,” Atkinson said. “It’s impressive. I think off the bat we didn’t bring a physicality. If you don’t bring a physicality against that athleticism, it’s tough. You make it a jumping contest and that’s difficult.”

Brook Lopez scored a season-high 36 points while becoming the first NBA player ever to hit six 3-pointers and block eight shots in a single game.

But Milwaukee’s tandem of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middelton offset Lopez’s historic effort by combining for 53 points against the porous Net defense.

Brooklyn, which hasn’t won a home game since the day after Christmas, will not get another opportunity to do so until March 12 against the Knicks after returning from a season-high eight-game road trip following the break.

The only sliver of good news to come out of this latest home debacle was that chronically injured point guard Jeremy Lin participated fully in Tuesday’s practice and will be back in action a week from Friday when the Nets return from the break to kick off their trip in Denver.

“You can see his impact right off the bat and it was only an hour and 15-minute practice,” Atkinson said of Lin, who has been sidelined since reinjuring his hamstring on Dec. 26, missing all but 12 of the Nets’ first 56 games.

“But we felt it and that’s good for all of us, all of our morale right now, our confidence that he’s on the verge of coming back. And he’s anxious to come back and help the team.”

Nothing But Net: Spencer Dinwiddie, who has been doing a solid job of filling in for Lin of late, scored a season-high 19 points in Wednesday’s loss. He also handed out eight assists, grabbed five rebounds and picked up a pair of steals in 27 strong minutes. “There is a certain time when they’re so up into you that you’ve gotta go make a play,” Atkinson said. “And you have to drive it to the rim. And I felt like Spencer did that. He felt like the pressure was so great — it’s similar to what Jeremy does when they pressure him. He broke some stuff off and got to the rim. So when they’re out denying and they’re up in the ball handler, there’s a lot of driving lanes. I think he took advantage of that.” … The Nets’ 16-game home losing streak is the third-longest in the history of the NBA, and three shy of the all-time record for home futility, established by the Dallas Mavericks from Nov. 6, 1993 to Jan. 21, 1994.

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The annual Battle for Brooklyn game wasn’t much of a battle at all Wednesday night on Remsen Street.

Senior Jerome Frink and sophomore Raiquan Clark scored 15 points apiece as LIU Brooklyn steamrolled St. Francis Brooklyn, 82-45, before a crowd of 826 at the Pope Center.

Frink, who is emerging as a strong candidate for Northeast Conference Player of the Year honors, was named the recipient of the Lai-Lynch Trophy as the contest’s Most Valuable Player.

Junior Nura Zanna collected 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Blackbirds, who improved to 10-5 in NEC play, stabilizing their status as a potential No. 2 seed in the upcoming league tournament.

Freshman sensation and Brooklyn native Rasheem Dunn led the charge for the struggling Terriers (2-13 NEC) with 17 points.

LIU completed a season sweep of SFC, having defeated the Terriers, 63-45, at the Steinberg Center on Jan. 14.

The Blackbirds will host Sacred Heart here on Saturday at noon, while the Terriers return to action Saturday against visiting Wagner.