Brooklyn Boro

Nets return following much-needed ‘break’

Brooklyn looks to end season-high seven-game skid in Charlotte

February 21, 2018 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson hopes to have Caris LeVert back in the lineup and capture the team’s first win of this month Thursday night in Charlotte. AP Photo by Kathy Willens
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Spencer Dinwiddie spent the past week gaining national notoriety by winning the Skills Challenge during the NBA’s All-Star weekend in his native Los Angeles.

Nik Stauskas worked as a color analyst for Canada’s The Sports Network in his home country.

DeMarre Carroll got in some quality family time, Allen Crabbe dipped his toes in the sand during what he termed “a nice little vacation,” and D’Angelo Russell and Joe Harris simply decided to stay here at the team’s practice facility in Sunset Park and work on their respective games.

Now that their annual hiatus is over, however, the Nets must get back to the hardwood, and much more importantly, the business of winning basketball games, something they haven’t done at all in February.

“It’s time to get away from basketball,” Russell admitted following Brooklyn’s season-high seventh straight defeat and 10th loss in 11 games overall, a 108-103 setback to the Indiana Pacers at Barclays Center on Valentine’s Day.

“You need that sometimes to come back and reflect and realize what you’re coming to do, especially with a team like us,” added Russell, who is finally finding his early season form after missing two months with a knee injury. “We’re losing, and we’ve got to figure out a few things.”

As an organization, the Nets (19-40) have been losing for some time now, going a combined 60-163 over the past two-plus seasons, including an NBA-worst 20-62 last year.

But this campaign felt a tad more promising than the previous two before this past month.

Brooklyn was 18-29 after Dinwiddie, who appeared on the Rachel Ray Show Wednesday morning following his clutch performance last Saturday night at L.A’s Staples Center, drained a buzzer-beating jumper in Detroit to lift the Nets over the Pistons, 101-100, on Jan. 21.

Though climbing to within 11 games of .500 certainly wasn’t a franchise turning point, the team did appear to be competing extremely hard and pushing the opposition to the wire night after night, something head coach Kenny Atkinson took great pride in, especially with the Brooklyn roster decimated by injuries.

However, Brooklyn has won just one game since, and its penchant for dropping closely contested contests also dissipated as the Nets have been outscored by double digits seven times over their last 11 games, only managing to squeak out a 116-108 triumph over Philadelphia at Barclays on Jan. 31 during that stretch.

Even the ever-optimistic Atkinson had to admit that his team was a bit “fried” from its recent doldrums and that the All-Star break arrived at a most-welcome time.

After losing Jeremy Lin to a season-ending injury on Opening Night, missing Russell for a couple of months and, more recently, being without injured defensive standout Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and fast-emerging guard Caris LeVert, the Nets spent most of this season striving and surviving through the adversity.

Until the past month, that is.

“We don’t like missing games and we can’t wait to get back out there and contribute to the team in whatever way we can,” said LeVert, who hasn’t played since Feb. 6 after suffering a concussion and knee injury on a violent screen set by Houston’s Nene during a 123-113 loss to Houston.

Atkinson is hoping that a refueled unit that will likely get Hollis-Jefferson (out since Jan. 26 with a groin strain) and LeVert back against the Hornets in Charlotte Thursday night will play more like the one that ranked second in the league in games (29) featuring teams separated by five points or fewer with 5 minutes to play or less before its current malaise.

“We have to come back with a bit of a chip on our shoulder,” insisted Atkinson as the Nets tried to match their win total from a season ago with a victory in Charlotte.

“We’re struggling right now and see if we can make some money after the All-Star break … We have to turn it around. We have I think [23] games after the All-Star break, see if we can make a little money and play well going into that offseason. I said last year, it’s so important. We did that last year, we really improved after the All-Star break. We’re kind of stagnating right now.”

That stagnation will continue if the Nets don’t clamp down on defense.

The Nets entered the break ranked 25th in the league in points allowed per game at 109.6, including a whopping average of 120 during their last three losses.

More alarmingly, Brooklyn yields an NBA-high 27.4 points per contest in the fourth quarter, making it extremely difficult to pull out close games.

“Hopefully this break gives us some time to really get our minds right and attack this second half of the season,” noted Crabbe, who went into the week off averaging 25 points per contest in his previous four games.

Following their return to action in Charlotte Thursday night, the Nets will get another mini-break before hosting Chicago here in Downtown Brooklyn on Monday.

Nothing But Net: The Nets announced last week that Monday’s game vs. the Bulls would be a retro-themed night to honor former Nets great Drazen Petrovic, who died in a car accident in Germany nearly 25 years ago. According to the team’s website, Petrovic’s mother will be in attendance and there will be a video tribute showcasing the sharp-shooting guard’s legacy. The Nets will also be giving out Petrovic STARTING LINEUP figurines to the first 10,000 fans in attendance. There will also be five new Petrovic items in the Swag Shop along with a NBA Jam arcade machine, where fans can play as “Petro” in the classic game. Autographed and game-worn items from Petrovic will also be on display.

 

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