NET ZEROES
High- flying Hawks too much in opener
ATLANTA— The Nets spent the previous four days hearing about how they shouldn’t be in the playoffs, how no one wanted to watch them play, how the Hawks had essentially been given a bye into the second round.
At times during Sunday’s opening game of this best of seven series, the Nets looked as if they’d taken those criticisms to heart by playing inspired ball and keeping themselves in the game. But something else seemed equally clear throughout Brooklyn’s 9992 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 18,440 at Philips Arena: Now with five losses to the Hawks in five tries this season, finding a way to beat the Eastern Conference’s top seed is going to be no easy task.
“We played better against them, but we’ve got to beat them,” Deron Williams said. “That’s five in a row.
“It’s encouraging, but at the same time almost is not a win. … We’ve got to play better.”
The Nets managed to hang around in this one, like they did in the final meeting between these teams in Brooklyn 11 days ago, cutting Atlanta’s lead to four in the fourth quarter. But if the Nets are going to beat the Hawks — and especially if they’re going to find a way to do so more than once— they are going to have to execute better.
That means getting Brook Lopez more than seven shots. That means shooting better than 5for20 from 3point range. That means limiting their turnovers, as opposed to committing 17 that led to 24 Atlanta points, many easy baskets in transition. That means not losing track of Kyle Korver, who finished the game with half of Atlanta’s 10 makes from behind the 3point arc ( and as many as the Nets, for thatmatter).
But even with all of those legitimate criticisms, the Nets still found themselves in the game in the fourth quarter— an outcome that left them understandably optimistic about their chances of making this a series.
“I’d hope it’s encouraging,” Nets coach Lionel Hollins said. “If you get close and you have wideopen shots and you don’t make them, or you turn the ball over, you know that you can be there.”
“It’s tough when you get it down to five and it goes back up to 13,” Williams said. “It’s tough especially against a team like this, butwe had our opportunities.”
They had plenty, including several wideopen looks from 3point range that didn’t go down. But they also saw where their advantages lie — or, specifically, their one advantage: Lopez’s massive frame inside.
Lopez finished the game with 17 points and 14 rebounds despite only getting those seven shots, even if Korver didn’t believe that was the extent of his involvement.
“It felt like he shot way more than seven times,” Korver said. “I saw the stat sheet and was like, ‘ Seven times? It felt like he shot 20.’ ”
“When Brook catches it in the post, they give him a few different looks, whether it’s trapping or coming as soon as he turns his back,” Joe Johnson said. “We’ll make adjustments, man. We’ll get the big fella rolling.”
But with five straight losses to the East’s best team already in the books, whether they can translate that formula into actual wins — and in doing so turn what many think will be a walkover for the Hawks into a competitive series — remains to be seen.