CITY HAUL: Reggie Evans and the Nets, down 3-1 to the Bulls, begin a first-round comeback attempt in Game 5 tonight with an early playoff exit threatening to erase some of the good feeling of the first Brooklyn season. (
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It was a year ago yesterday when Derrick Rose suffered a torn ACL in Game 1 of the Bulls’ first-round series against the Sixers. That Chicago has recovered enough to stand one win away from advancing to the second round of this year’s playoffs is a credit to general manager Gar Forman, coach Tom Thibodeau and the rest of the Bulls.
It doesn’t reflect kindly, however, on the Nets.
As the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Nets need a victory tonight at Barclays Center to keep from being eliminated by the fifth-seeded Bulls in just five games of the best-of-seven series. It would be a bitter and embarrassing ending to what has been an inspiring inaugural season in Brooklyn. Lose tonight and most of the feel-good story will be replaced by a sour taste that will linger through the offseason.
It also won’t sit well with owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who stood at center court before Game 1 and told Nets fans, “This is just the beginning.” It was assumed it was the beginning of something good, not of the shortcomings witnessed in the past three games.
The Bulls were vulnerable without Rose and with center Joakim Noah playing practically on one foot because of plantar fasciitis. But they have won three straight games since losing Game 1 at Barclays Center, including a triple-overtime affair Saturday afternoon in Chicago in which the Nets blew a 14-point lead in the final three minutes of regulation.
The Nets tried to say all the right things after the demoralizing defeat. The Bulls have never lost a series after leading 3-1, and there’s little to suggest the Nets can put together the kind of consistency needed to win three straight games. They have had enough trouble putting four consistent quarters together.
“We just have to take it one game at time,” Brook Lopez said. “That’s the best way to look at it right now.”
Interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo yesterday summed up the Nets’ plight this way: “We’ve got a one-game season. It’s as simple as that.”
If it’s just one game, then play it for pride — pride in your team, pride in Brooklyn. Too many good things have occurred this season for the beleaguered franchise to have C.J. Watson’s missed dunk and the meltdown in Game 4 be the lasting impressions in the offseason. Brooklyn has an image of being tough and resilient, its people not backing down from adversity, and neither should its basketball team. You don’t wear black-and-white uniforms and come up small on the biggest stage, not if you want to be taken seriously in this town.
Lopez talked about playing tonight “in front of a great home-court crowd.” Those fans deserve a great performance from the Nets. At least give them that. No one expected the Nets to win the NBA championship this year or even reach the Eastern Conference finals. But no one expected them to get dusted in five games in the first round either.
If the Nets lose tonight, Prokhorov won’t be happy. General manager Billy King has a contract extension, but Carlesimo likely would be replaced and pressure would mount on Deron William, Joe Johnson and Lopez to make the Nets a legitimate contender next season.
Bottom line is you can’t like what you’ve seen from the Nets in this series. They played a brilliant Game 1 and looked ready to compete against the best in the league. Then they started sluggishly in Game 2, were out-muscled and bullied in Game 3 and collapsed in the fourth quarter of Game 4.
Some of it is coaching. The inability to minimize long scoring droughts is maddening. Some of it is confidence. Can anyone else score beside the Nets’ Big 3? And some of it is chemistry. It’s tough to have a close-knit team when your leader, Williams, is so aloof.
The Nets had a good thing going in Brooklyn. Now they’re about to blow it.