NBA

Nets offensive woes continue, trail Bulls 2-1

CHICAGO — The Nets need to find their shooting touch — and fast.

Their season depends on it.

For the second straight game, the Bulls bottled up the Nets offense. And, for the second straight game, the Nets seemed powerless to do anything about it, falling 79-76 to the Bulls in front of a sellout crowd of 21,672 inside United Center last night.

Brooklyn trails Chicago two games to one in this best-of-seven series, and finds itself faced with a virtual must-win tomorrow in Game 4.

“We have to win,” said Deron Williams, who had 18 points on 5-for-14 shooting and four assists. “That’s it.”

In order to do so, the Nets are going to have to find a way to solve Chicago’s seemingly impenetrable defense, something they have been unable to come close to doing the past two games.

Fresh off of shooting 29-for-82 (35.4 percent) in their 90-82 loss to the Bulls in Game 2 Monday in Brooklyn, the Nets were almost identically miserable last night, shooting 28-for-81 (34.6 percent) from the field. They have gone a combined 9-for-42 (21.4 percent) from 3-point range in the two losses.

“We did not execute,” interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “We have to understand to space the floor and execute better. … But it all comes down to we have to make shots.”

Even with their offensive woes, the Nets somehow gave themselves a chance to win thanks to a 14-2 run over the game’s final six minutes that saw them pull to within three, with the ball, with 4.4 seconds remaining.

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But after the ball was inbounded to Joe Johnson and swung around to C.J. Watson in the corner, his potential game-tying 3-pointer missed everything and sent the Nets to a second straight loss.

“It wasn’t designed to come to me,” said Watson, who finished the game 1-for-8. “We just read the play, I got a good look and just missed it.”

After the Bulls successfully smothered the Nets in Game 2 on Monday, it looked like Brooklyn had rediscovered how to attack the Bulls in the opening minutes. They moved the ball well, got several open looks, and attacked the rim, all of which resulted in a 17-5 lead halfway through the first quarter.

But then the bottom fell out.

The Nets proceeded to miss 25 of their next 26 shots, allowing the Bulls to go on a 28-4 run over nearly 16 minutes and to take a 33-21 lead.

“There’s no way really to [keep frustration from setting in],” Williams said. “You just keep telling yourself, and keep telling the guys, to just keep chipping away, keep playing hard, and that’s really all you can do. We had some good looks out there that normally would fall, and they’re not falling.”

The Nets got 57 points from Brook Lopez, Williams and Joe Johnson, who finished with 15 points on 6-for-14 shooting. Lopez led the Nets with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks.

Johnson, who had been a game-time decision with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, said he got a cortisone shot before the game to help with the pain.

“I had no choice,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t have played without it.

“I’m all right. It’s starting to wear off a little bit, but my main thing is during the game. Off the court, I’ll be all right, but during the game I want to be as comfortable as possible.”

The Nets continued to struggle to stop Carlos Boozer, as they have against the Bulls all season long. Boozer finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds, and Luol Deng had 21 points and 10 rebounds. Their counterparts on the Nets, Gerald Wallace and Reggie Evans, combined to go 2-for-10 from the field and score five points in a combined 50 minutes of action. Both sat the entire fourth quarter.

Now the Nets have 24 hours to come up with some solutions in order to try and get themselves back in the series when they take the floor again tomorrow afternoon.

“We knew it was going to be tougher [after Game 1], but we didn’t know we were going to shoot the way we have,” Williams said. “We’re not shooting the ball at all right now.”