Brooklyn’s daring defeat on the Washington court reopened discussions on the Nets’ defense, which awarded 149 points to one of the worst teams in the NBA. Kyrie Irving mea culpa at the press conference: “The game was in our hands, we have to look at ourselves in the mirror. Today I could not mark even a twig, they passed around me from all sides”
When a team can rely on Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant, no one really doubts that can score almost at will. And in the last two weeks the Nets proved it, scoring 122.7 points out of 100 possessions (good for second place in the NBA behind the very hot Utah Jazz of the last period) also winning four games in a row. The problem, if anything, is then in the defensive half: the Nets conceded 118.5 points out of 100 possessions, good only for 24th place in the NBA, and in the night they lost badly in Washington conceding 149 points to the opponents. Most importantly, they suffered a partial of 8-0 in the last 8 seconds, wasting a five-point lead with 12 seconds left by throwing away a game that – despite the obvious defensive problems – seemed really closed. “We had it in handKyrie Irving said after the game. “We should have kept it, so we need to look in the mirror and see what we can correct on an individual and group level – especially in terms of commitment. For example, I couldn’t mark a twig today: opponents passed me from all sides and it frustrated me a lot ”.
deepening
6 points in 4 ”: Washington comes back to Brooklyn. VIDEO
Irving had set things right scoring four of his final 26 points in the last minute of play, but Beal and Westbrook’s two straight triples completely reversed the challenge – in a game where the Nets conceded 72 points in the area to the opponents, the maximum they have granted in the last four years. “The last lost ball [di Joe Harris] it was a microcosm of the whole game, you can’t blame anyone. No single game can decide a game alone: we were over five, we lost the game. Okay, it happens, but we can’t make it become a habit without being aware of what it takes to win. It’s hard, it’s like getting punched in the face because we were ahead and we wanted to close it, but never mind ”.
deepening
Beal and Westbrook from 78 punti, Nets ko. Vince Phila
Coach Steve Nash too he didn’t want to blame Harris – however, author of his career high of 30 points – for the wrong throw-in: “When you give 149 points, that’s just a mistake out of the 50 we made. We weren’t good enough defensively: then we can isolate individual moments, but we shouldn’t have found ourselves in that situation. We were far ahead at the start of the race and we have kept them in the game for too long, giving them confidence. They are a desperate group in search of a victory: we gave them life ”. More peremptory Kevin Durant: “This is one of those games to be quickly forgotten”.
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