The losses keep coming in the same way for the Nets, the same mistakes happening in the same fashion at the same times.
Even the explanations sound similar.
“I feel like I’m saying the same things, too,” Kevin Garnett said with a sigh. “It is what it is.”
Obviously there’s plenty of time for the Nets to get back on track after Saturday’s 96-91 loss to the 7-0 Pacers — the NBA’s lone undefeated team — in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Though the Nets understand that better than anyone, thanks to the veterans on their roster, it doesn’t make the growing pains of trying to make these pieces fit together any easier to go through.
“Nobody likes to lose,” said rookie Mason Plumlee, who gave the Nets six points and three rebounds in a productive and effective 15:38 off the bench. “Whether it’s a process or not … you can win during a process.”
The wins have been in short supply for the 2-4 Nets, who came up short on back-to-back nights by making many of the same kind of mistakes. Their coach, Jason Kidd, harped on second-chance points after the game — the Pacers had a 20-11 edge in that department — but it would be just as easy to pin the blame on careless turnovers, of which the Nets had several, including six in the fourth quarter.
“I’m putting this on myself,” said Garnett, who had two of those fourth quarter turnovers. “I don’t think I made good decisions tonight when it counted, and I’ve got to get better at that.”
Deron Williams, while looking as good as he has overall since returning from his sprained right ankle two weeks ago, made his own pair of poor decisions in the fourth.
After Brook Lopez missed a layup that could have pulled the Nets within one with just under three minutes remaining, Williams fouled George Hill on a 3-pointer. That allowed him to give the Pacers two points at the line which then turned into two more after the rebound of his missed third foul shot turned into a jump ball that Indiana controlled and led to a jumper by Paul George, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
Then Williams, who had 17 points and 10 assists, rashly drove into a double team in the corner with the Nets down three with just over a minute left, leading to a David West steal and robbing the Nets of a chance to get closer or tie the game.
“It was a stupid foul,” Williams said, “and the turnover definitely cost us.”
Nevertheless, the Nets wound up with a chance to tie the game after Garnett stole an errant pass by George, and Kidd drew up a beautiful play that led to a wide open 3-pointer for Joe Johnson.
But Johnson’s shot, just like his game-tying jumper Friday night in Washington, was just off, and after West secured the rebound and knocked down a pair of free throws, the Nets had seen another game slip through their fingers.
“It was a great look,” said Johnson, who finished tied with Williams for the team lead with 17 points. “It felt good. It just didn’t go down.”
Like a lot of plays through the first six games for these new-look Nets, it was just a little off. Now the Nets head into a mini three-day break before they travel on a three-game West Coast trip that kicks off in Sacramento on Wednesday and ends with a reunion between Garnett, Paul Pierce and their old Celtics coach, Doc Rivers, in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Perhaps the time away from home will be the thing to get this group to start clicking the way it expects to.
“We don’t want to pile up the losses right now, but I definitely know we’ll figure something out,” said Pierce, who had 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists. “Maybe going out West will be good for us.Sometimes they say taking a trip, the guys are all together, you seem to come together. I’ve been on a lot of teams that have done that, so that’s what we’re hoping for.”