The road does not get any easier for the Nets
ATLANTA — Despite losing consecutive games to Orlando and Washington, the two teams that were immediately behind them in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the seventh-place Nets insisted they weren’t calling any emergency meetings to stop their slide before facing the Hawks on Friday night at State Farm Arena.
But that might change after a 141-118 loss to the Hawks that dropped the Nets to eighth, half a game behind the Magic. To make matters worse, they play the second game of a back-to-back against fourth-place Miami on Saturday night at American Airlines Arena and then travel to Boston to face the third-place Celtics on Tuesday.
Asked if he might speak to the team as player rep, Garrett Temple said: “Yeah. If we continue playing like we’ve been playing, we won’t be in the playoffs. Period. Point-blank. That’s our goal is to make the playoffs.
“We may have to change something. We didn’t play from a physical standpoint the last two games … So we have to compete at the end of the day, or we’ll be sitting at home watching.”
The Nets played their worst defense of the season against a Hawks team that had the second-worst record in the NBA. So defense is the obvious starting point for any quick turnaround.
“It’s just taking pride in our defense,” Caris LeVert said. “We’ve got to get our mojo back at that end of the court. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board, get back to doing what we do best. We’ve got to get back to playing Nets basketball, and we’re not doing that right now. We’ve got to figure it out.”
Despite the three-game slide, coach Kenny Atkinson expressed confidence in his team, saying: “We knew this was going to be a tough schedule after the All-Star break, and we’ll get it back. I have confidence in the group. We’ve just got to get your juice back and plow ahead. That’s the mentality you have to have.”
Greg Logan has worked for Newsday since 1982 covering a wide array of sports and events, currently including the Brooklyn Nets beat.
