The good news for the Nets? They picked up a much-needed win on Tuesday night to strengthen their hold on the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference with the play-in quickly approaching.
The bad news? Brooklyn’s defense once again looked abysmal, this time allowing 123 points to the lowly Pistons, who own a share of the worst record in the NBA.
“Yeah that’s something that we have to work on,” Andre Drummond said after Tuesday’s 130-123 victory. “We can’t hang our hat on a second half. We have to play a complete game, because it’s not always going to be that easy to make that turnaround against great teams. Not that the Pistons aren’t a great team, they played a hell of a game. We just turned it up in that second half and we can’t play like that. We have to do that the whole game.”
The Nets were bailed out by their high-powered offense, led by Kevin Durant’s 41 points. But Detroit shot over 51 percent from the field and from downtown in a 64-point first half in which Brooklyn was trailing by six. The Nets were able to mask their defensive lapses thanks to Durant, but that might not be the case against playoff-caliber teams.
“We’re going to have to make our staple as a team on the defensive end,” Kyrie Irving said. “If we’re going back-and-forth in a shooting contest, we’ll still be in the game but sometimes those games could be back-and-forth and lead to mistakes on our end. We don’t want to put our heads down too often when we get down in games. We have to make it our emphasis on the defensive end.”
So, how can the Nets make that emphasis on defense and become a more rounded team before the play-in?
“I do not know the answer to that,” Steve Nash said. “When we play with edge we’re a much better team defensively. When we take our foot off the gas, we’re not good enough to just roll out there and shut people down.”
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