Nets taking back-to-back game against tough Bulls as challenge

It was nearly a month ago when the Nets arrived in Chicago with a five-game winning streak and took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter and then got their heads handed to them on a platter. The Bulls blew the Nets out 42-17 in an embarrassing fourth-quarter display on their way to a 23-point victory.

The Nets (16-6) have gone 9-2 since then to rise to first in the Eastern Conference. But the Bulls (15-8) are in second place right behind them and primed for the rematch that was scheduled Saturday night at Barclays Center. If anything, the Bulls had an advantage because they had a night off after their victory over the Knicks on Thursday while the Nets were playing the second game of a back-to-back after a grinding win over the Timberwolves Friday night.

"It’s a great challenge for us," Nets coach Steve Nash said after pulling out the win over Minnesota on Friday in a choppy game where the Nets held the Timberwolves to 20 points in the final period. "Fortunately, we get to play [Saturday] because I think no one today was happy with the performance. So we get a chance to come back out and try to play a little bit better and play against a very good Bulls team."

The Bulls figure to be a legitimate contender all season after acquiring DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic to join All-Star Zach LaVine as a high-scoring ‘Big 3." Considering the Nets still are relying primarily on Kevin Durant and James Harden while playing without Kyrie Irving, who has missed the whole season while failing to comply with New York City’s vaccine mandate, it’s fair to say the Bulls are among their greatest challengers in a loaded Eastern Conference.

Although the Nets lead the conference, they have a track record of losing to some of the top teams in the NBA, including the defending champion Bucks, Golden State, the Suns and the Heat, as well as the Bulls. But Durant, as usual, downplayed the significance of the rematch with Chicago.

"No, not special significance," Durant said. "Every game is important. I know you ask those questions when we play the contenders of the league and I know Chicago is a contender, but every game is important. We want to go out here and set a tone every night. It is going to be an intense game, and we’ve got to match that at the start."

Against the Timberwolves, the Nets reverted to their habit of getting off to a slow start. While they regained a halftime lead, they traded baskets throughout the third quarter lasting into the fourth quarter before finally locking in on defense. They finished the game with an 11-4 run on their way to a 110-105 win in which the Timberwolves made only one of their final 12 field-goal attempts.

Durant explained that the Nets simply doubled down on their defensive principles in the final period. "As the game went on, we started to understand where help was coming from," said Durant, who scored nine of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. "Those [T-Wolves'] shots were falling in the first quarter. After that, you start to see they were inconsistent with their shots. We weathered the storm and was able to get a solid win and I look forward to tomorrow."

Although Durant has carried a heavy workload, Nash made it clear there was no thought of resting him in a back-to-back. "Yes, Kevin will play," Nash said emphatically after beating Minnesota. "We found a way to win ugly. It was not classic for us."

Form isn’t as important as the bottom line, and the Nets were seeking to build on their recent 6-1 streak against the Bulls.

By Greg Logan

Gregory.Logan@newsday.comGregLogan1

Greg Logan has worked for Newsday since 1982 covering a wide array of sports and events, currently including the Brooklyn Nets beat.