Nets can’t allow N.O. loss to linger
The Nets wouldn’t be the first to trudge away from Bourbon Street and the Big Easy with a hangover. But after suffering a gut-wrenching loss Friday at undefeated New Orleans, they have to make sure the same game doesn’t beat them twice.
With the Nets (2-3) hosting Golden State on Sunday afternoon and the Warriors seeking a three-peat, they don’t have long to get over blowing what should have been a statement win and to make sure it doesn’t lead to another loss.
“Heck of a challenge,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Listen, there’s no [choice]. You have to in this league. There’s just no choice. You’ve got Golden State and you’ve got the Knicks [Monday night at the Garden], two tough games; so we just got to get ready for those and battle. [It’s a] great chance for us to see how resilient we are.”
It will take a short memory and a ton of backbone to get over Friday’s loss. The Nets led by as many as 13 points and were up 115-108 with less than two minutes left, but found a way to let the Pelicans close on a 9-0 run. Make that a number of ways — from veteran Jared Dudley inexplicably fouling Jrue Holiday with the Nets up by three and 21.9 seconds left, to point guard D’Angelo Russell’s turnover with a onepoint advantage and 7 seconds left.
“I’m not in it for moral victories. We should’ve won this game, but we didn’t,” said Ed Davis, whose questionable technical foul for pushing Pelicans forward Solomon Hill out of the Nets’ huddle with 2 seconds left capped the theater of the absurd. It’s one of a host of endgame plays they would love to have back, but can’t.
“The game’s over with. We can’t go back and replay the last minute or two minutes,” Davis said. “We can watch film and learn from it. We’ve got a tough one on Sunday versus the defending champs, the best team in the league, so it’s going to be a good one for us. It’s going to be another test. We’ll be ready.” The Nets acknowledge that will be easier said than done, both because of what a win over undefeated New Orleans would have represented and because of how they gave it away.
“It’s tough,” Caris LeVert said. “Because we know what type of team [the Pelicans] are. They’re undefeated. That would’ve been a great win for us. But we’ve got to let it go. We’ve got another great team coming in, so we’ve got to just mentally prepare ourselves for that one.
“We’ll learn from it. We’ve got another game [Sunday], another chance to compete against a really good team. We’ll be ready for it.”
They had better be. They’re hosting a Warriors team that has won three straight, the latest a 128-100 win Friday at the Knicks in which Kevin Durant had 25 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter. The game before that, Stephen Curry poured in 51 as they rolled up 144 points at home to beat the Wizards.
In other words, come in hungover, or anything less than 100 percent focused, and the Nets could get run right out of their own building.
“One play dictated [Friday]. Get over it and prepare for Golden State,” Russell said. “Watch film, learn from it. There’s 70-something more games to go. We play Sunday. That’s the best thing about it. We lost this one. It’s early. We play Sunday. Get over it.”
They have to. After hosting Golden State and playing at the Knicks comes a tough homestand against the undefeated Pistons (4-0) and the uber-talented Rockets and 76ers. They need to get over Friday and not let that game beat them twice. Or thrice. Or worse.
Rookie forward Rodions Kurucs (left ankle sprain) has been ruled out against the Warriors, as have Treveon Graham (hamstring) and DeMarre Carroll (ankle).