Garnett gets to rest, but his teammates look weary
PHILADELPHIA — On a night the Nets could’ve used their top rebounder and defensive leader, Jason Kidd decided Kevin Garnett “deserved a night off.” Garnett missed his third game of the season, Friday’s 121-120 overtime loss to the Sixers, joining Joe Johnson (personal reasons) on the inactive list. It was a bad game for him to rest.
“(Garnett) is a competitor. He wants to compete,” Kidd said. “He wants to help his team win. But I think that he understands that how much he was on the court in that last game, I feel like he deserved to have a game off.”
Without Garnett — who will now have four days off in between games — the Nets were outrebounded 49-36 and outscored in the paint 66-30. Brook Lopez has yet to grab at least 10 rebounds in a game this season.
“It always starts at the defensive end,” said Paul Pierce, who implied that the Nets lost their defensive edge without Garnett. “Regardless, we’ve got to get back on defense, we’ve got to rebound, we can’t ease into these games. Our defensive leader is not out there, Kevin, so we have to have other guys be able to pick us up. It has to be collectively. We’ve got to be up for everybody. It’s not like we’re walking giants. . . . We don’t have the luxury to come in here and coast and feel like we can come into the fourth quarter and turn it up. Those are the great teams that understand that and understand the moment. We are not there yet.”
Kidd used his 12th different starting lineup in the Nets’ 26th game of the season Friday, a startling statistic that speaks to injuries and Kidd’s inability to find consistency.
ROAD WORRIERS
This was supposed to be the easy part of the schedule. Now the reeling Nets are looking at a rougher road.
After consecutive losses to sub.500 squads Philly and Washington, four of Brooklyn’s next six games are against the Thunder, Spurs and Pacers (twice).
“At a point in the schedule we looked at this point over the last couple of weeks where we could kind of gather ourselves and make a chase, at least get back to .500,” Pierce said. “But every opportunity we get, it seems like we slip. Tonight was another opportunity. It’s always going to come down to the little things, man.”