\n<\/aside>\nThe Nets\u2019 recent funk isn\u2019t just one thing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou name it,\u201d coach Steve Nash admitted, as his struggling team prepared to host the Spurs on Sunday. \u201cWe\u2019ve really struggled since returning from all the COVID interruptions. We were having a very good year. We actually played well through the COVID situation. Since we\u2019ve gotten everyone back more or less we just haven\u2019t had the confidence, the spirit, the joy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you could see it: Too many lapses and not enough pace and enthusiasm. We\u2019ve got to find that. We\u2019ve got to get that back after this interruption, and be a group that goes out there and is difficult to play against.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nets have been all too easy to play against lately, putting up little resistance. Defense, rebounding, physicality, spacing, it\u2019s all taken a hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like it\u2019s everything, honestly,\u201d James Harden said. \u201cWe can\u2019t get stops consistently. Offensively, it\u2019s a little difficult, our spacing isn\u2019t great most possessions. It\u2019s a little of everything, and it feels like it\u2019s all piling on each other.\u201d<\/p>\nJames Harden has his weak offering denied by Bobby Portis on Jan. 7, 2022.<\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Nets have dropped four of their last five games, including a 121-109 loss to the Bucks on Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/aside>\n\u201cI mean, there\u2019s a multitude of [issues],\u201d Kevin Durant said. \u201cOffensive rebounds, even though I don\u2019t think that hurt us [Friday], that\u2019s hurt us over this little stretch, that\u2019s been hurting us. Not staying in front of the ball, like giving up straight line drives, and teams come here knocking down 3s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nets have allowed at least 10 3-pointers and 110 points in all five of those games. They have failed to run foes off the line. While they had overcome being shorthanded all season by remaking themselves as a defense-minded team, their \u201ccare level\u201d has taken a dip ever since their roster has gotten closer to whole lately.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be a hell of a coach if I knew [why],\u201d Nash said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get to work. We\u2019ve got to find the resolve, finding the everyday come in and do the right things, invest in the group and try to pick your teammates up. And if we could have that character where we\u2019ll do everything we can individually and also pick our teammates up, we\u2019ll get back to playing good basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nets had played good, first-place basketball all the way through the holidays.<\/p>\n
They were perched atop the Eastern Conference with a 23-9 record on Dec. 29, a game ahead of the Bulls and two clear of the Bucks. They had gotten there by guarding, with a defensive rating that was fifth-best in the NBA (106.4).<\/p>\n\n\t<\/aside>\nBut since then? Their defensive rating of 119.2 is third-worst in the league. And they have fallen 2 \u00bd games behind the Bulls and into a tie with the Bucks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur physicality is the start of it. Being up into the ball, make sure our man feels us, that\u2019s the beginning right there. That\u2019s where it starts,\u201d Harden said. \u201cAnd then as a possession, as the shot clock gets lower and lower, we\u2019ve got a better chance of locking in on the ball, whether it\u2019s pick-and-roll or iso, and that gives a better position at rebounding the basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
A poor rebounding team even at their best, the Nets relied on the league\u2019s second-best field-goal defense (42.7 percent) before hitting their slide. They have been just 20th since the skid began.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a few common threads,\u201d Nash said. \u201cWe\u2019re not into the ball. We\u2019re not combative enough to start games. We\u2019re not clean enough with our communication at the level of the ball. There\u2019s not enough of a presence. We can do better in transition as well getting organized. It\u2019s fundamental stuff that\u2019s taken a dip since we all got back together. We can see it clearly. We have to work at it now. We have to take it to heart and we have to rebuild.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to continue to get back to where we were being a lot more physical, a lot more decisive in actions and get that swagger back defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nets\u2019 recent funk isn\u2019t just one thing. It\u2019s everything. \u201cYou name it,\u201d coach Steve Nash admitted, as his struggling team prepared to host the Spurs on Sunday. \u201cWe\u2019ve really struggled since returning from all the COVID interruptions. We were having a very good year. We actually played well through the COVID situation. Since we\u2019ve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[1180,1181,910,1117],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10617,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10615\/revisions\/10617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}