Nets showing some effort despite four straight losses
Cam Thomas of the Nets shoots over CJ McCollum of the Pelicans during their game at Barclays Center on Tuesday. Credit: Errol Anderson
It’s hard to find much good amid a four-game losing streak this late in the season. The Nets also rarely praise moral victories over actual ones.
Yet in their last two games, there’s been signs of a team taking positive strides compared to earlier this month. In Tuesday’s loss, the Nets held the Pelicans to 104 points, the second fewest New Orleans scored in their stretch of winning seven of their last eight games.
It came on the heels of clawing back and forth game with the Spurs Sunday. But, of course, the fight didn’t change the results or the Nets’ recurrent problems.
They couldn’t hold a 10-point fourth quarter lead against the Spurs, the Western Conference’s worst team by record. They trailed the Pelicans by double digits for three quarters in front of a less-than enthused Barclays Center crowd.
But at this point, with little to play for, the positives give some hope the Nets don’t want to limp to the finish line.
“I thought we had a good second half. I’m not going to just throw that under,” interim coach Kevin Ollie said Tuesday. “That’s a good team. So let’s take that effort and have that effort in the first two quarters and not get down by 20.”
It doesn’t erase that the Nets (26-43) remain on pace to finish the season among the 10 worst teams in the league by record. They’ve lost to each of the bottom-three teams in both conferences and they don’t have any draft picks this summer to look forward to.
It’s such a mess that fans rarely felt the urge to cheer Tuesday. They barely got behind the Nets when they cut the lead to 11 points in the third and saved their loudest reaction for Zion Williams’ highlight-reel alley-oop dunk with the game out of hand.
Even Cam Thomas admitted it’s exhausting repeating himself about the Nets’ issues or showing urgency in the final stretch.
“At the same time, we have to do it so we don’t say the same stuff over and over,” Thomas said about fixing things. “We just have to go out there and do what we say up here.”
Maybe that’s why their last two losses had enough bright spots to keep things hopeful. The fact both came after a players’ only meeting showed they took the message of playing harder for each other to heart, even if it hasn’t translated to wins.
They’ll likely spend the rest of the March still in the play-in tournament chase. It’s still a carrot worth chasing for despite the Hawks now leading by 4 1/2 games for the last play-in spot. Both the Nets and Hawks have games Thursday.
With eight of their final 13 games against teams over .500, the Nets need to show fans they’re not throwing in the towel. It won’t change fans’ disappointment but it’ll be a credit to the Nets’ pride if their good play the last two games can carry over, starting with this four-game road trip.
Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
