TORONTO — No more calls, ladies and gentlemen. We have a winner for the category of the Nets’ worst performance of the season. Or decade. Maybe century.
“Pitiful. Horrible. Horrible effort. Awful,” said Chris Douglas-Roberts, who returned from a three-game absence to play in, well, what he just said. “It was definitely, definitely, definitely a low point.”
Definitely.
Maybe it was National Anthem fatigue. The Nets, standing for two anthems for the first time this season — the Raptors are used to it — were never remotely in the game as Toronto went on a 14-0 run in a 39-15 first quarter and cruised to a laughably easy 118-95 victory.
“It has to be [a new low],” Rafer Alston said. “Inexcusable.”
Devin Harris sighed.
“The effort just wasn’t there from the start,” he said.
The result was the sixth straight loss — by an average of 17.3 points per defeat — for the 2-25 Nets.
“The entire game was inexcusable. All the turnovers in the first half [16], that was inexcusable,” said Alston who, according to several players, led a halftime locker room tirade with Douglas-Roberts. “Not helping from the weak side is inexcusable. Giving up all those layups and dunks are inexcusable. Not running back is inexcusable — little kids can see that.”
So can potential free agents like the Raptors’ Chris Bosh (16 points, eight rebounds).
“I know how that [2-25] feels. About four years ago, we were that. That’s what I was telling Devin,” Bosh said. “It’s tough, it’s very unfortunate that guys have to go through that but they’re the only guys who are going to get them out of that hole. . . . Nobody felt sorry for me, it’s part of the gig.”
And you could be a part of that, Mr. Bosh.
“They have a lot of cap space and they have good players,” Bosh said. “It’s on [management] to see the shining light at the end of the dark tunnel.”
When the Raptors’ Marcus Banks hit a left corner 3-pointer with 9:24 left in the first half, the Nets trailed, 47-17. At that point, there were concerns whether the Nets could even score 30 against Toronto, the second worst defense in the league.
But the Nets sailed past 30 as Brook Lopez (14 points, eight rebounds, double-double streak ended at six) scored at 2:15 of the second quarter when New Jersey stormed to within 62-31. The Raptors, who eventually led by as many as 40, eclipsed the biggest deficit the Nets have faced all season: the Lakers’ 34-point advantage on Nov. 29, the first game after Lawrence Frank was fired.
At halftime, the Nets trailed, 70-33, having racked up 16 turnovers. The YES Network might as well have switched to the George Brett pine tar game. Players fumed in the locker room.
“I was just trying to emphasize pride. What do you want to be known for? Where is your pride?” said Douglas-Roberts (16 points with a rubberized brace protecting his left knee). “Pointing the finger can be contagious. That’s poison for the locker room. Start with yourself.”
As Alston said: “You can’t even look each other in the eye.”
That’s better than looking at the game. The Nets got their deficit down into the 20s in the fourth as the Raptors played a couple of guys named Skippy and some fans whose names were picked from a hat.
⇒The Lakers come to the Meadowlands tonight. . . . Keyon Dooling (five games out, sore hip flexors) is expected back. . . . Jarvis Hayes (hamstring), out since opening night, could play Wednesday, along with Yi Jianlian. Both will do full practices Monday and Tuesday.