Slumping Nets unable to keep up with Luka, Mavs
The Nets might be in some trouble.
After trying to put their tumultuous offseason behind them, they are now off to a 1-4 start to the regular season and have lost three straight following a 129-125 overtime defeat to the Mavericks on Thursday at Barclays Center.
The Nets’ defense, which has been an issue, struggled to come up with an answer for Luka Doncic, who posted a triple-double — 41 points on 14 of 28 shooting, 13 assists and 11 rebounds — to lead Dallas to its second win of the season.
“It’s so new for our group, we’re trying to find an identity and find cohesion, understanding,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “Once we get a more formal rotation, we’ll get a look at what this team is.”
This was a seesawing game, with the Mavericks not taking a decisive lead until a dramatic end to regulation led to overtime.
Kevin Durant tied the game at 112 with a transition dunk with 8.8 seconds to go in the fourth quarter after Dallas tried to run out the clock and Doncic turned the ball over, with Ben Simmons getting the steal. Mavericks guard Reggie Bullock missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Once it got there, though, it wasn’t Doncic who killed the Nets, it was his supporting cast. Two 3-pointers from Tim Hardaway Jr. and a third from Maxi Kleber within the first two minutes of the extra period handed the Mavs a 123-114 lead. That deficit proved too much, as Bullock hit a free throw with 7.5 seconds left to seal it.
“They made shots,” Durant said. “We didn’t. They hit three 3s in overtime, wide-open ones. Bad coverage and their shooters knocked them down.”
Kyrie Irving matched Doncic in the fourth, sparking the Nets on two stepback 3s and a stumbling floater to pull them back into the game after the Mavs extended their lead to nine. Brooklyn would go into the lead after two free throws from Durant made it 101-100 with 5:45 to go in the game. Hanging onto the lead, though, proved to be a challenge.
Though the lead reached two possessions for the Nets after Irving hit a stepback 3-pointer with 3:11 to go, a personal 4-0 run for Doncic tied it back up at 110.
Doncic very much lived up to his billing, hitting stepback 3-pointers and throwing highlight-reel passes. So too did Irving and Durant. Simmons even finished a three-point play to tie the game at 78 during the third quarter. But Doncic, who finished the third with two straight assists on 3-pointers as Brooklyn’s defense collapsed around him, had the better of the night.
“It’s like being in the park playing five-on-five,” Irving said. “Luka brings his guys, me and K bring our guys. You know where most of the offense is gonna go through.”
Going into the fourth, there had already been eight ties, 11 lead changes and neither team had led by more than eight.
For the Nets, who see the Pacers next for two games in a row starting Saturday, the questions that have dogged their start of the season remain prevalent.
Irving finished with 39 points and Durant with 37, but no other Net scored more than 10, and figuring out how Simmons fits into all of it is still very much an open question — one the Nets dealt with Thursday by playing him at center for stretches, with Nic Claxton on the bench down the stretch.
This was, though, a better night for Simmons. The Mavericks backed off him whenever he touched the ball, daring him to shoot. On the first possession of the game, Simmons obliged, hitting from the post, but otherwise he was largely reluctant. At one point in the first quarter when he did shoot, Simmons airballed a layup, but he finished the night 3 of 7 from the field, with better stretches amid some less-thanconfident play.
The Big 3, all things considered, had a reasonably good night.
But it couldn’t stand up to Doncic.
“Every star player has come in here and had 35-plus or 30-plus [points],” Irving said. “And that’s just not good enough in this league.”
Cam Thomas spoke in short sentences and gave little elaboration. But the 2021 first-round pick let it be known how he felt about his lack of playing time.
“Of course,” Thomas replied, when asked by The Post whether it was frustrating, before he again did not play in the Nets’ 129-125 overtime loss to the Mavericks on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
Thomas averaged 17.6 minutes per game last season, carving out a role in a Nets rotation that was hit hard by injuries. As a rookie, he averaged 8.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, shooting 43.3 percent from the field.
This season, by comparison, Thomas sat out three of the first four games. Though he played 12:42 on opening night against the Pelicans, he came off the bench to play just 58 seconds Wednesday at Milwaukee.
Not only has Joe Harris, following his return from ankle surgery, supplanted Thomas in the rotation, but so have Royce O’Neale, Edmond Sumner and Patty Mills.
Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons have the starting spots locked down there and Seth Curry presumably will be in line for minutes when he returns from an ankle injury.
That has left Thomas on the outs with questions about his role.
“Ain’t had no conversations [with coach Steve Nash],” Thomas said. “Just not playing at the moment.”
Thomas said there have been no messages from Nash or the coaching staff, and he had no idea that was coming following training camp.
“Very [surprising],” he said. “It is what it is.”
The one time Thomas has played real minutes this season, he shot 1-for-4 from the field with an assist against the Pelicans.
Harris missed the game Thursday on the second end of a back-to-back, raising the possibility of minutes for Thomas, but he once again did not play.
➤ Curry, Harris, T.J. Warren (foot) and Markieff Morris (personal reasons) were out on Thursday night.
Nash said Morris and Harris, who played on Wednesday in Milwaukee, are likely to play against the Pacers on Saturday.
“Right now it’s managing the surgery,” Nash said.
Nash added that Curry is “getting closer” and will be evaluated on Friday.