This time there could be no miracle comeback for the Nets.
And no momentum-building three-game streak going into the All-Star break.
An evening after storming again for a shocking victory on the Backyard, the Nets misplaced 117-103 to the woebegone Wizards at Barclays Heart.
The Nets had misplaced final week in Washington and misplaced Thursday’s rematch as effectively, watching the Wizards shred their protection and put seven scorers in double figures.
“They made some huge pictures. Ish Smith made a bunch of pictures down the stretch. They made, we missed. It was only a robust night time,” coach Steve Nash mentioned. “The blokes labored actually laborious. [James Johnson] was an enormous miss for us, the one man that may actually create separation off the dribble and facilitate offense for us.
“We simply couldn’t actually get sufficient going offensively, paint touches and spraying the ball round and getting cleaner seems. We had been simply actually small as effectively. They labored their butts off, however most likely a little bit fatigue and a little bit shorthanded.”
The Nets (31-28) fell 2 ½ video games behind sixth-place Boston within the play-in race, and two behind seventh-place Toronto.
Additionally they received out-hustled by the Wizards and blew an opportunity to enter the break on a three-game successful streak.
Nonetheless, having seemed reinvigorated after the Ben Simmons-James Harden commerce, and with each Simmons and Kevin Durant anticipated to play in some unspecified time in the future after the break, the Nets appeared constructive.
“All of us got here right here to win a championship this yr and for us to actually consider that and perceive that's the place we’re at,” Patty Mills mentioned. “It’ll take everybody within the locker room — all of the coaches, all of the employees, everybody on this group to purchase into what we’re attempting to do right here to have the ability to get this factor accomplished this yr.
“We’re in a really hungry, hungry place proper now. The locker room is as sturdy because it’s ever been this season. … And getting back from All-Star break we now have gamers getting back from damage and it’s simply going to take this factor to a different stage. However the important thing right here is knowing the top purpose and what it’s going to take to get there: And it’s going to take all of us. Each single particular person on this group. And that’s the assumption. That’s the assumption I do know is there.”
Mills had a game-high 22 factors and rookie Cam Thomas added 20 off the bench. However the Nets let Washington carve them up for 55.4 p.c taking pictures, and 12-for-24 from 3-point vary.
The Nets led 51-46 after Seth Curry (12 factors, 4 assists) discovered Jevon Carter for a 3-pointer with 3:26 left within the first half.
However the Nets missed 14 straight pictures and dedicated three turnovers in an prolonged 18-0 run that spanned intermission. It flipped a five-point cushion right into a 13-point deficit.
The Wizards nonetheless led 67-55 after a Daniel Gafford free throw with 6:54 left earlier than the Nets began to dig themselves again out. Brooklyn answered with a 21-6 run, together with the ultimate eight unanswered factors to edge forward.
And trailing 73-68 after a foul shot by Washington’s Rui Hachimura (team-high 20 factors), the Nets reeled off an 8-0 spurt capped by Carter’s pull-up 3-pointer. That broke a impasse and gave the Nets a 76-73 lead. And it was knotted after three quarters.
However a wretched begin to the fourth — with discombobulated offense on one finish and blown defensive assignments on the opposite — led to the Nets conceding a 10-2 run to open the ultimate interval.
Nash referred to as a timeout with the Nets down 86-80 with 10:24 to play, however the injury was accomplished. A Hachimura tip-in left the Nets trailing by eight with 9:35 to play and so they by no means recovered.
“We’re excited,” Nash mentioned. “We've got [23] video games to return collectively as a workforce. Kevin returning, Ben returning. Hopefully we now have a great run of well being the place we will actually construct one thing in a brief time period and get a greater seed and likewise extra cohesions going into the playoffs.”
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