Nets forward Kevin Durant (7) reacts during against the Atlanta Hawks, Saturday,...

Nets forward Kevin Durant (7) reacts during against the Atlanta Hawks, Saturday, April 2, 2022, in Atlanta.  Credit: AP/Hakim Wright Sr.

ATLANTA — It’s just a matter of time. For months, that’s the way the Nets have viewed this season.

It was a matter of time before they got healthy and before Kyrie Irving would be allowed to play games both home and away, a matter of time before they became the team that everyone expected them to be.

But as the Nets are quickly learning — and as was so thoroughly demonstrated in their loss to the Hawks on Saturday — time is a finite resource, and it just might be running out.

It’s not just that the loss dropped them into 10th place in the Eastern Conference with four games to go; it also was the fact that they squandered a career-high 55-point performance by Kevin Durant that included eight three-pointers. Irving, back full-time, scored 31 but did it on 12-for-32 shooting, and he and Durant were the only   Nets in double figures.

They were sloppy — “undisciplined,” Durant said  — and allowed the Hawks to shoot 49 free throws. They trailed by as many as 15 points but drew to within one with 2:32 left before the game got away from them again.

“This time of the season, we’re usually just cleaning up some small things, the little things, but for us, we’re cleaning up some big gaps in our offense and defense,” Irving said. “When we do play well, when we’re clicking, we look like a totally different ballclub. We just have to find that consistency, and I know we will. Time is not on our side again, but I feel confident in our group that we’re able to do what we need to do.”

But though the Nets have the easiest remaining schedule in the league, according to Tankathon, recent performances, along with injury and illness, have called into question whether they can click  when they need to, and for an extended period.

Goran Dragic has COVID-19 and is symptomatic, and Bruce Brown has the flu, but there are other, perhaps more concerning issues at hand.

Seth Curry has been a revelation since the trade that sent James Harden to the 76ers in February, but an ailing ankle has caused him to miss five games, including Saturday’s.

Curry’s importance is further highlighted by Patty Mills’ struggles. Mills, the Nets' primary perimeter threat after Joe Harris went down (but before Curry joined the team), has been ice-cold for the majority of the last eight games. He played 31 minutes Saturday and didn’t score a point — perhaps the result of the heavy workload he’s been forced to carry.

Then there’s the Ben Simmons question: Simmons and his herniated disc have progressed only to light shooting and “not even moving around a lot,” Steve Nash said Saturday. The Nets have expressed optimism that he will be ready for the play-in tournament, but that seems less and less likely.

Take all those factors and then add the fact that if they end the season in ninth or 10th, they'll need to win two play-in games just to get to the playoffs. They also dropped the season series against the Hornets, who are a spot ahead of them in the standings.

Durant and Irving said the team hasn’t lost its confidence — partly because, even when the Nets do play poorly, they have the firepower to have a chance. But time is running out and Irving, echoing the comments Kevin Garnett made before Game 7 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals, said they need to wage a figurative war to get to where they want to be.

“Go home, and this is just a metaphor — you go home, you get your bullet-proof vest, you get your handgun, you get your rocket launcher, you get your AK, you get everything,” Irving said. “You load up all the ammo — it’s just a metaphor, people — but you go home and get ready for war and you don’t just live with the results, but you go out there with a mental focus and a no-fear attitude and we really just play for each other and that’s what it comes down to."  

More Brooklyn Nets

Newsday LogoSUBSCRIBEUnlimited Digital AccessOnly 25¢for 5 months
ACT NOWSALE ENDS SOON | CANCEL ANYTIME