NETS LOSIN’ IT
Kidd rips players after Pacers roll, butts heads with Deron:
ACCORDING TO their coach, the Nets are something worse than losers — they’re quitters.
More than 30 minutes after his team was embarrassed by the Pacers, 103-86, Monday night in Brooklyn, Jason Kidd arrived late to his postgame press conference with his harshest words thus far for a team in a tailspin. “I think it’s getting really close to just accepting losing,” the first-year coach said. “We kind of get comfortable with losing and we have to make a stand with that because when things get tough, do we give in? Most of the time right now we do.”
It’s a damaging implication for a group of high-priced veterans, a gutsy remark for a coach who had previously preached togetherness and the importance of “not letting go of the rope.”
The Nets (9-18), losers of three straight and facing a season without injured Brook Lopez, played Monday night like their rope was severed.
Still, Deron Williams, who struggled Monday with nine points and four turnovers in 32 minutes, disagreed with his coach. “I’m not. I’m not comfortable with losing,” Williams said. “It’s not fun. It’s not fun – not only when we’re losing in the game, but when we’re at home sitting and thinking about it.”
The two players who were supposed to supply leadership and a tough identity — Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce – plodded through another disappointing performance, then did not speak after the game. Pierce was ejected in the third quarter after a lazy flagrant foul on George Hill and left the locker room before the media was allowed inside. Pierce did not score a point for the first time since 1999. Garnett scored 12 points on 3-of-10 shooting in 19 minutes.
When asked what he can do to rectify the team’s losing attitude, Kidd made it clear the blame was with the players. It’s a stark contrast to his postgame remarks earlier in the season, when he was eager to take full responsibility.
“We don’t have enough timeouts. I can only call so many timeouts to slow it down and call the play and get us in the zone, but we still have to find a way to put the ball in the basket and get stops,” Kidd said. “That’s not just an individual thing – that’s a team thing – and that’s what we have to find out.”
Life without Brook Lopez started off as you might expect for the Nets — who were torched by Brooklyn product and Lincoln High product Lance Stephenson, who scored 26 points with seven rebounds and five assists. By the fourth quarter, Stephenson was just clowning around – clapping his hands after a pass, excessively dribbling – just because he could. “I just was very motivated and hyped for this game. ... I’m just happy we got the W,” he said.
Williams is expected to shoulder a greater scoring burden without Lopez, who is out for the season with a broken foot. But Williams only took nine shots, and missed six. “I need to play better,” said Williams, who tweaked his ankle in the fourth quarter but said he was fine. “I need to be more aggressive for us to have a chance, especially with Brook going down; that’s what I talked about is stepping up and so tonight was just a bad game for me, throwing the ball all over the place, couldn’t hit a shot, so it took my aggressiveness away and I think I played into what they were trying to do.”
Kidd disagreed, noting that Williams is a facilitator. Nobody seems to be on the same page. “For us to ask him to be more aggressive and shoot the ball, it doesn’t help us as a team,” Kidd said.