PORTLAND — The Nets are keeping their eyes on the prize.
It’s just that the players’ day-to-day prize is a distinct one than the front office’s big-picture reward down the road.
The Nets could also be tanking — OK, Brooklyn is tanking — but rest assured their players and coaches are attempting to win. They’re fighting for each victory.
But dragging a season-worst five-game losing skid into Tuesday night’s game at lottery-rival Portland, they haven’t fought quite hard enough.
“We’ve got to compete,” Ben Simmons said of the Trail Blazers game. “We will’t go in there — I do know that is type of like a rebuild situation, but we’ve got to go in there like we wish to win no matter what the front office is expecting.
“We’ve got to [fight]. That’s just personally. I would like to win, and compete. Similar to the coaches. So, we’ve gotta show up and compete.”
The Nets competed in a 112-111 time beyond regulation loss at Utah on Sunday night. They scored the ultimate six points of regulation to force the additional stanza, and led before giving up the winning drive with 6.4 seconds left.
Before the sport, injured veteran Cam Johnson was within the locker room attempting to boost spirits, telling his teammates he was confident they were going to start out a winning streak. And after the defeat, players were commiserating about how one failure to commit the foul they’d to provide proved costly.
“I believe it’s details,” Simmons said. “To win a game is tough within the NBA. So that you got to be detailed, and consistent. It’s got to be all 4 quarters. You’ll be able to’t just show up once you want.”
The Nets enter Tuesday’s game just 13-26, with the sixth-worst record within the NBA — or, the sixth-best odds of winning the lottery. They’re clinging to a slim half-game edge on the Trail Blazers, sitting seventh within the lottery standings.
The difference between sixth and seventh sees a team’s odds of a top-4 pick fall from 37.2 percent to 32.0 percent, or the highest overall pick drop from nine to 7.5 percent.
It’s why Tuesday’s game is so vital.
“We’ve got to have a short-term memory,” center Nic Claxton said. “You realize, it’s the NBA. We go play Portland next, so we’ve just got to try to get that win and stay positive.
“We’ve been losing lots, and everybody’s bored with losing. … We’ve just got to be higher throughout.”
That is the a part of the season when a tank can change into trying. It might probably grate on the players attempting to win, weigh on the coaches attempting to construct a positive culture.
Just have a look at each team’s past nine contests. The Trail Blazers have won 4 times while Brooklyn has won just once. They usually’re set to be without leading scorer Cam Thomas and Trendon Watford, and possibly without Johnson and D’Angelo Russell as well.
“I believe it’s a possibility. And the NBA gives you quite a lot of opportunities in other ways,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “I at all times tell the blokes that playing late in the sport, whether you’re up otherwise you’re down, it’s a superb opportunity. If let’s say you’re up 20, you wish to wind up 30. When you’re down 30, you wish to finish down 20. And you wish to see those guys fight and compete in those moments.
“Games like [these], there’s guys out. You could have minutes, you’ll have more shots. Is that going to occur in the longer term? You don’t know. But you possibly can control just what you possibly can control. So right away, we now have guys out. Someone’s got to take minutes. Someone’s got to take shots. Someone’s got to play the defense. Someone’s got to pass the ball.
“So all those things are vital. Someone has to bring the group together like Cam Johnson does. He’s not playing now, so who’s going to do it? Those things are vital for us.”
PORTLAND — The Nets are keeping their eyes on the prize.
It’s just that the players’ day-to-day prize is a distinct one than the front office’s big-picture reward down the road.
The Nets could also be tanking — OK, Brooklyn is tanking — but rest assured their players and coaches are attempting to win. They’re fighting for each victory.
But dragging a season-worst five-game losing skid into Tuesday night’s game at lottery-rival Portland, they haven’t fought quite hard enough.
“We’ve got to compete,” Ben Simmons said of the Trail Blazers game. “We will’t go in there — I do know that is type of like a rebuild situation, but we’ve got to go in there like we wish to win no matter what the front office is expecting.
“We’ve got to [fight]. That’s just personally. I would like to win, and compete. Similar to the coaches. So, we’ve gotta show up and compete.”
The Nets competed in a 112-111 time beyond regulation loss at Utah on Sunday night. They scored the ultimate six points of regulation to force the additional stanza, and led before giving up the winning drive with 6.4 seconds left.
Before the sport, injured veteran Cam Johnson was within the locker room attempting to boost spirits, telling his teammates he was confident they were going to start out a winning streak. And after the defeat, players were commiserating about how one failure to commit the foul they’d to provide proved costly.
“I believe it’s details,” Simmons said. “To win a game is tough within the NBA. So that you got to be detailed, and consistent. It’s got to be all 4 quarters. You’ll be able to’t just show up once you want.”
The Nets enter Tuesday’s game just 13-26, with the sixth-worst record within the NBA — or, the sixth-best odds of winning the lottery. They’re clinging to a slim half-game edge on the Trail Blazers, sitting seventh within the lottery standings.
The difference between sixth and seventh sees a team’s odds of a top-4 pick fall from 37.2 percent to 32.0 percent, or the highest overall pick drop from nine to 7.5 percent.
It’s why Tuesday’s game is so vital.
“We’ve got to have a short-term memory,” center Nic Claxton said. “You realize, it’s the NBA. We go play Portland next, so we’ve just got to try to get that win and stay positive.
“We’ve been losing lots, and everybody’s bored with losing. … We’ve just got to be higher throughout.”
That is the a part of the season when a tank can change into trying. It might probably grate on the players attempting to win, weigh on the coaches attempting to construct a positive culture.
Just have a look at each team’s past nine contests. The Trail Blazers have won 4 times while Brooklyn has won just once. They usually’re set to be without leading scorer Cam Thomas and Trendon Watford, and possibly without Johnson and D’Angelo Russell as well.
“I believe it’s a possibility. And the NBA gives you quite a lot of opportunities in other ways,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “I at all times tell the blokes that playing late in the sport, whether you’re up otherwise you’re down, it’s a superb opportunity. If let’s say you’re up 20, you wish to wind up 30. When you’re down 30, you wish to finish down 20. And you wish to see those guys fight and compete in those moments.
“Games like [these], there’s guys out. You could have minutes, you’ll have more shots. Is that going to occur in the longer term? You don’t know. But you possibly can control just what you possibly can control. So right away, we now have guys out. Someone’s got to take minutes. Someone’s got to take shots. Someone’s got to play the defense. Someone’s got to pass the ball.
“So all those things are vital. Someone has to bring the group together like Cam Johnson does. He’s not playing now, so who’s going to do it? Those things are vital for us.”
