Sunday’s blowout loss to the Magic in Orlando wasn’t the end of the world for the Nets, nor did it mean anything more than they had one off night in what will be a long six months of regular-season action.
That being said, Sunday’s result should make one thing crystal clear for the Nets: they’re not going to be able to coast through games this season and get away with it.
“I said on the bench to Joe [Johnson] … ‘Joe, you know what? This is going to be a tough season,’” Andray Blatche said after Monday’s practice at the team’s New Jersey practice facility. “Every time we hit that floor it’s going to be tough, because guys are going to come out there and bring their ‘A’ game, because of our team, because of who we are and what we represent and what we’re trying to achieve.
“Guys are going to come at us every game. We’ve got the bull’s-eye, and we can’t come out there with that type of energy. We came out there, after beating Miami [Friday], I guess we were feeling ourselves too much, so we came out there too relaxed. That’s not us. We’ve got to come out there aggressive every game and with a lot of energy.”
The Nets certainly played Sunday like a team that came out for the game too relaxed. From the opening tip, it seemed like the Nets were a step slow, leaving opposing shooters open, settling for jumpers instead of layups and failing to finish off possessions by allowing Orlando to get the offensive rebound.
It was all enough to leave Kevin Garnett seething afterwards. Garnett had said after the game, “We’ll be on the plane … we’ll have a conversation about it.” Blatche said that, eventually, Garnett did just that.
“He was upset,” Blatche said of the future Hall of Famer. “He was upset, all the way from the bus to the plane, he was really upset. … We just gave him his space so he can cool off. [Then] he said his piece and we all took it in.”
It seems safe to assume Garnett’s message was for the Nets to come out with much better focus and energy for Tuesday night’s game against the 0-3 Jazz in Brooklyn. Like the Magic, the Jazz are a team heavily reliant on young players. And, like the Magic, the Jazz are a team that would love nothing more than to beat the Nets, who will always have teams ready to play them thanks to their star-studded roster and sky-high payroll.
“We’re not champions but, at the same time, we have stature with those guys,” said Shaun Livingston, referring to the likes of Garnett, Paul Pierce and Deron Williams, among others, on the roster. “You look at the names, you look at the money, you look at all the things that everybody sees, and that all plays into it. It’s a chance for young guys to make their name.
“Where that comes in with us is energy, effort, focus. … It has to be razor sharp, and it has to be both units. My unit off the bench, we have to come in and try to pick the guys up if they don’t have it going certain nights, and vice versa. It’s something we’re going to have to compete against.”
Livingston also said it’s not the worst thing in the world for this to have happened so early in the season, as now they’ll have no excuse to have a similar effort moving forward.
“You shouldn’t have a game like that, so we don’t want to condone it and we don’t want to accept it,” he said. “But if you’re looking at the bigger [picture], it’s better to get it out of the way early, take your bumps, figure out what needs to be done and make your adjustments.”