SALT LAKE CITY — The NBA’s most disappointing group simply prolonged the league’s longest dropping streak. And the most recent loss was extra of a destruction than a defeat.
The Nets dug a gap proper from the beginning, jumped in and buried themselves. Enjoying with out James Harden, they have been thrashed 125-102 by the Jazz earlier than a sellout crowd of 18,306 at Vivint Enviornment on Friday night time.
The Nets have dropped seven straight, their longest skid since additionally dropping seven in a row from Dec. 26, 2019 by Jan. 7, 2020. No group has ever misplaced that many in a row and gained the NBA title, based on StateMuse. However proper now, the Nets want to fret extra about simply profitable a recreation earlier than they ponder a championship — and within the battle of wills Friday, they have been damaged.
“We had just a few probabilities and a few of our focus degree diminished as they began making pictures,” Kyrie Irving stated. “We got here to the bench, we had some good talks about changes we needed to make, nevertheless it was only a battle of will they usually took over the sport.”
The Nets are 2-8 since Kevin Durant sprained his left MCL, however he wasn’t the one one lacking Friday. Harden was held out due to a decent left hamstring, and Nic Claxton left the sport resulting from a hamstring harm of his personal.
Irving had 15 factors and 6 assists, however shot 6-for-20 and completed a minus-29. Patty Mills was a minus-27. Starters Claxton, Kessler Edwards and James Johnson mixed for a grand whole of two factors on 1-for-14 taking pictures from the ground.
That’s the type of night it was for the Nets, for whom rookie Cam Thomas’ career-high 30 was about the one shiny spot.
“This is without doubt one of the worst video games I’ve seen all 12 months. That is unhealthy,” one Jap Convention scout informed The Publish. “However there’s not a lot on the market.”
The Nets missed their first seven pictures, earlier than Johnson broke by drought. By that time the Jazz — taking part in with out Rudy Gobert (calf) and Joe Ingles (ACL) — had run off to a 10-0 lead.
The Nets trailed 68-47 after a primary half through which they conceded 59.5 % taking pictures by Utah and hit simply 33.9 % themselves.
“We wish to have the ability to affect the basketball on the defensive finish so we’re not taking the ball out of the rim each single time,” Irving stated. “That’s a demoralizing approach to play basketball.”
It simply received worse from there.
Donovan Mitchell — who completed with 27 factors after lacking the previous eight video games with a concussion — discovered Eric Paschall for a 3-pointer and 103-69 lead with 35.6 seconds left within the third quarter. Then Mitchell drove for a layup of his personal and a 105-71 cushion simply 28 seconds later.
The Jazz shot 61.3 % from the ground — together with 54.8 % from 3-point vary — by three quarters, sending the Nets into the fourth trailing 105-73.
“They couldn’t miss at first, so it’s fairly demoralizing while you received to take the ball out of the ring each time as a result of each single shot they put up within the first 5, six minutes [went in],” Thomas stated. “They shot like 50-something % from the 3-point line. It was ridiculous, some loopy stat like that.”
Subsequent up is a recreation Sunday at Denver, with the Nets making an attempt to keep away from an eight-game skid that might be their longest since Nov. 21-Dec. 5, 2018. That dropping streak was adopted by a seven-game profitable streak. These Nets can solely hope.
“Robust, robust recreation. I felt for the blokes,” coach Steve Nash stated. “I informed them I used to be pleased with them simply staying collectively. It’s not simple to take a beating like that and to maintain taking part in exhausting to the ultimate whistle. We tried to play the appropriate means.”
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