Mikal Bridges: Nets mainly need to keep their heads in the game
Nets forward Mikal Bridges, right, drives around Trail Blazers forward Jabari Walker during the second half of an NBA game in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Craig Mitchelldyer
LOS ANGELES — Mikal Bridges had little doubt that he’d play Friday after suffering a lower leg contusion Wednesday. Even as the Nets listed him as probable on the injury report, he quickly affirmed his status at shootaround.
“I’m all good. I feel good, ready for tonight,” Bridges said at Santa Monica College.
Bridges hasn’t missed a game in his career, and facing the Lakers on Friday night extended his streak to 433 consecutive games played.
Anyway, the Nets have bigger problems.
Strengths such as rim protection and playing hard have become struggles, among a growing list of issues. Bridges and Cam Thomas lamented the 16-24 Nets’ inconsistent effort in losing 14 of their previous 17 games.
It was no surprise that Bridges gave the team a harsh grade ahead of its 41st game at the season’s halfway point.
“I’ll say poor to our expectations and our standards, very poor. Thought we’d be way better,” Bridges said. “We were good at one point and trending in the right direction. Obviously, it wasn’t great in the beginning, but we were starting to trend the right way and then kind of went downhill.”
It’s hard to disagree. Before the season, the Nets were expected by most observers to contend for a play-in tournament berth. It was a change from the past four seasons with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, but reasonable.
Bridges expressed even loftier goals at media day, saying that he expected to reach the playoffs. Yet the Nets are on pace to finish under .500 for the first time since 2019-20, a season Durant missed while recovering from an Achilles tear.
Day’Ron Sharpe’s injury has made it tougher to protect the rim as the Nets lost size behind Nic Claxton. But a lack of effort in certain moments remains alarming.
Thomas often has said that the Nets’ effort dips when their offense is struggling. Bridges noted Friday that it’s the secondary effort after an initial play or decision that’s been most critical.
Either way, it’s led to scoring droughts and giving up runs. Such was the case Wednesday when they allowed the Trail Blazers to open the fourth quarter on a 14-4 run to get back in the game.
As a result, the Nets are losing one of their trademark identities of playing hard no matter what.
“It gets draining for any team. I don’t care who the team is,” Thomas said of missing shots. “They can say, ‘Oh, we have effort no matter what.’ Nah. You’re not making shots, that effort’s going to drop. I don’t care who you are.
“When teams go on runs, we drop our head, sink our head. Everybody does. We’re like, ‘Oh, here we go again’ instead of just locking back in on the game plan, just playing through the run.”
It’s been an issue both starting and finishing games. Even their win against the Thunder on Jan. 5 was concerning because the Nets let a 32-point lead slip to single digits in the final three minutes.
Yet no matter how much the Nets talk or offer solutions, they need to just do it. Next week brings another tough stretch against the Clippers on Sunday, the Knicks on Tuesday and the Western Conference-leading Timberwolves on Thursday.
Bridges’ first-half grade was understandable. Time will tell how the second half goes and the Nets go from talking solutions to executing them.
“We can’t really keep talking about it, not really much problem-solving . . . We just got to do it,” Thomas said. “Forty-one games in, we can’t keep talking about strategy, we just got to do it.”
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
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