Nets lack necessary fuel in loss to Rockets

Makeshift lineup can’t hang with Western Conference leaders

November 28, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn’s own Isaiah Whitehead enjoyed one of the best games of his NBA career Monday night in Houston, but the undermanned Nets were defeated by the red-hot Rockets. AP Photo by Eric Christian Smith

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Undermanned and overmatched, the Brooklyn Nets just couldn’t keep up with the Western Conference-leading Houston Rockets on Monday night, suffering a 117-103 loss in front of 16,189 fans at the Toyota Center.

“The first quarter was a hurricane,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson admitted after his short-handed squad got outscored by a whopping 43-26 count in the opening 12 minutes, forcing him to employ a never-before-used zone defense over the final three quarters.

“I told the guys I’m proud of how they bounced back,” Atkinson added, noting how the Nets cut an early 21-point deficit to four in the third quarter before the Rockets pulled away again.

Brooklyn (7-13), which snapped a three-game losing streak with a gritty 98-88 win at Memphis on Sunday, couldn’t come close to repeating the feat, especially with starters Allen Crabbe (back), DeMarre Carroll (respiratory infection) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (ankle) out of the lineup.

Add in the fact that the Nets’ presumed backcourt starters, Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell, have also been missing in action due to injury, and Brooklyn figured to have virtually no shot of seriously competing with a Houston team that has won 16 of its first 20 games.

And ultimately, they didn’t.

“You can come in here and lose to this team by 40,” Atkinson ceded. “We played a ton of zone [defense], which we’ve never done. There are different types of resiliency.”

Atkinson may have been most heartened by the performance of Brooklyn’s own Isaiah Whitehead, who finished the contest with a career high-tying 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

The Lincoln High School alum and former Mr. New York Basketball also handed out three assists and grabbed three rebounds for the Nets, who hope to at least have Carroll and/or Crabbe back for Wednesday night’s visit to Dallas.

“He had a great game in the G-League,” Atkinson said of Whitehead’s 32-point effort for the Long Island Nets on Saturday night before his impromptu call-up to Brooklyn following the loss of several starters in Memphis on Sunday.

“That gave him the rhythm,” he added. “They play in the same system [in Long Island]. I’m really proud of him. He did a good job.”

Whitehead, who played in 74 games for Brooklyn during his rookie campaign out of Seton Hall in 2016-17, has only logged six contests with the Nets this year. But he has made the most of his limited chances while bouncing up and down between his home borough and Long Island.

“I was just staying ready to take opportunities and doing well with them,” Whitehead said following his first NBA game action since Nov. 17. “I’ll stay ready throughout the year, and hopefully, I’ll get more chances.”

Spencer Dinwiddie had 14 points and seven assists, Caris LeVert scored eight of his 13 points during a key second-quarter run and seldom-used Sean Kilpatrick added 12 points off the bench for Brooklyn, which managed to outscore Houston by three points over the final three quarters.

The Nets went a dismal 10-of-39 from 3-point range as the teams combined for an NBA-record 89 shots from beyond the arc, with Houston burying 20 of its 50 tries.

“To keep competing after that first quarter, I’m proud of our team,” noted Atkinson after last year’s MVP runner-up, James Harden, ripped his makeshift unit up to the tune of 37 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Clint Capela poured in 20 points and Chris Paul handed out a season-high 14 assists for Houston, which has won five in a row and 11 of 12.

“They went zone, and it kind of threw us for a loop,” Harden said. “We weren’t making shots. That zone kind of messed us up a little bit.”

But not nearly enough for the Nets to record their first back-to-back wins since the first week of the season.

Following their visit to Dallas Wednesday, the Nets will return to Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday for the opener of a home-and-home set with Atlanta at Barclays Center.

* * *

In other local sports news, the LIU Brooklyn women’s volleyball team, coming off capturing its fifth Northeast Conference championship in the past six years and 11th overall, is headed to Seattle Friday night for its NCAA Tournament opener.

The Blackbirds (20-9), who needed five tough sets to hold off Central Connecticut State in the NEC Final the weekend before last at the Steinberg Center, will face eighth-seeded Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The meeting between the Blackbirds and Huskies will be the first-ever between the two schools.

LIU will be facing a Pac-12 program for the fourth time in their 11 NCAA Tournament trips, having previously lost to UCLA twice (2012, 2014) and Stanford once (2009).

“We’re super excited about making the NCAA Tournament for the second time in two years,” said LIU-Brooklyn head coach Ken Ko.

“I’m more excited for the team because of how hard they have worked to get to this point. I’m looking forward to seeing them compete on a national stage.”