Nets look rusty in narrow
Somebody break out the WD-40. In their first home preseason game of the season, against a Milwaukee Bucks team that rested all their starters and role players, the mostly available Nets looked like that used Brillo pad hanging next to your kitchen sink.
Rusty.
It could only be expected in the team’s first real action of the 202122 NBA season: Easy shots didn’t fall, passes missed their targets and the championship contenders narrowly escaped the Bucks, 119-115, despite the Bucks sitting their best 11 players.
“That’s one of the things I said in the huddle is we have to hold ourselves to a certain standard every single night no matter who we’re playing,” Nets star James Harden said after a 1-of-6 shooting night from behind the arc. “That’s the only way we’re gonna get better. We can control what we can control.
“Once we can figure ourselves out to the best of our ability and keep getting better as the season goes on, it doesn’t matter who you put in front of us. Obviously we’re a long way from that but that’s kind of the mindset. Obviously tonight I looked up and there’s a few guys that I recognize, but other than that it’s more so about us.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Pat Connaughton, Brook Lopez, Donte DiVincenzo, George Hill, Bobby Portis, Rodney Hood, Semi Ojeleye and Grayson Allen all watched from the sidelines as the defending champions battled a Nets team slowly getting players reacclimated to game speed and rotations. Friday night marked the first game of the season for Kevin Durant, James Harden, Joe Harris, Blake Griffin, Patty Mills and James Johnson, who each sat out the preseason opener in Los Angeles.
And boy, did it look like it. Harris was the team’s sharpest player, connecting on each of his first four three-point attempts, but he was one of few bright spots in an otherwise meaningless exhibition game. Without Kyrie Irving (ineligible without the COVID-19 vaccine) and Paul Millsap (health and safety protocols), the Nets started Bruce Brown alongside Harden, Harris,