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Brooklyn has responded to the biggest games of the season with its worst slump of the year.
Running a gauntlet of star scorers and playoff teams, the Nets have stumbled badly. Their latest fall came in a 113-109 defeat to the Mavericks Thursday in Dallas before a sellout crowd of 4,602 at American Airlines Center.
It marked a season-high fourth straight loss, and another fourth-quarter failure. The Nets wasted a season-high 45 points from Kyrie Irving, conceding a 13-2 run to blew a lead in the final period. Again.
“We need to be tested like that,” Irving said. “We’re not a perfect basketball club. I don’t think we’d be doing ourselves a great service if we weren’t honest: We haven’t played well in terms of spurts throughout the game, especially when it matters. We’ve just got to get better continuity down the stretch.
“The iso basketball down the stretch is not going to get us over the hump. We have to run some quality plays, some quality possessions and figure out a balance. … So, just finding a balance right now. But it’s good for us.”
The Nets (43-24) have been learning some tough lessons. The first were handed out by Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers. Then Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, not once but twice. And finally Luka Doncic, who had 24 points, 10 boards and eight assists for the Mavericks (38-28).
Denver and MVP favorite Nikola Jokic are waiting on deck.
“It’s good for us, frankly. We all want to win every night, and I’d have much preferred to win,” coach Steve Nash said. “But some adversity, some higher-level competition is what this team needs going into the playoffs.”
The Nets are getting a helping of adversity right now, and are losing their way into some more in the playoffs.
This season-worst skid has dropped them 2 ½ games behind the 76ers in the East and essentially flushed any shot at the No. 1 seed. What had been a 3 ¹/₂-game edge on Milwaukee is now just a half-game, with the Bucks holding the tiebreaker.
Though Irving was stellar, their endgame play was sorry. And Kevin Durant had a rare off night despite 20 points. He shot 7-of-21, just 1-of-7 in the final period.
“I gotta make them shots. I feel like I got good looks and I didn’t make them,” Durant said. “I feel like if I would’ve made them, I would’ve settled the team down.”
It’s not the first time the Nets looked unsettled late. After coughing up an 18-1 fourth-quarter run to lose two days earlier in Milwaukee, this time it was a 13-2 spurt.
“Yeah, it’s definitely concerning,” Joe Harris said. “The fourth quarter is obviously when you’re hoping to be at your sharpest. Certainly, the fourth quarter is where you’ve got to be able to lock in, focus and execute.”
They managed none of that.
Durant had given the Nets a 90-86 lead on free throws with 9:51 left.
But that’s when Brooklyn gave up the ghost in a 13-2 run, missing five of six shots in a four-minute funk. And far worse was what happened on the other end.
After holding the Mavericks to 28.6 percent shooting in the third quarter — including 10 straight misses coming out of the half — the Nets suddenly couldn’t buy a stop. They let Dallas make 6-of-9 in the key run, and shoot 60 percent in the fourth.
Doncic hit Dorian Finney-Smith for a 3 to put the Nets in a 99-92 hole with 5:57 left, and they never got closer than three.
“Losing sucks, no matter what time of the year it’s in, no matter who it’s against,” Durant said. “I’ve been feeling the same way about losing since I was 8 years old, since I started playing.
“I’m glad it’s happening now for us instead of in a couple weeks. Hopefully we build off this and keep growing. And I hope we feel this pain from losing, feeling like we’re not where we want to be. … It’s gonna make us better.”
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