NBA

Deron: Nets ‘know we can play better’

Deron Williams has peace of mind. The Nets guard isn’t content — with the team having lost three straight games — but he also isn’t frustrated. He left that frustration one state and two rivers behind. He knows the Nets need to improve, but as opposed to last year, now he knows they can.

“Last year we were losing every game. That was a different vibe,” Williams said after yesterday’s practice in preparation to face the Bucks tonight at Barclays Center. “We’ve lost three in a row, but we know we can play better. We can improve. Last year when we were playing bad, it was really hard to get better.”

After losing to arguably the NBA’s two best teams — the Heat and Thunder — the Nets blew a double-digit lead to the Warriors on Friday night at home, losing 109-102. Joe Johnson, who scored a season-high 32 points, could come to terms with a loss, but he couldn’t rationalize how badly they were outworked.

“The thing more disappointing than the loss is the way we lost,” Johnson said. “Just energy plays, just effort. We should never come home or lay an egg or not give it our all. Here in Brooklyn, man, it’s unacceptable. It’s not fair to our fans or our coaching staff.”

The Nets have allowed an average of more than 109 points during the three-game skid, and coach Avery Johnson said Friday was one of his team’s worst defensive performances of the season. A thorough film session yesterday showed the players it was even worse than they had realized.

“The film looked really bad,” Williams said. “You see our energy level, every one of us, from me down to the last guy. … We’ve got to get back to playing defense. We’ve got to do what makes us successful. We haven’t been doing that the last three games. We can’t blame [the coaches], can’t blame Billy [King, general manager], can’t blame [owner Mikhail] Prokhorov, can’t blame [the media], can’t blame the fans. We’ve just got to get better.”

Brook Lopez will miss his fifth straight game tonight, due to a sprained right foot. The center did some light running, agility work and shooting yesterday, but did not participate in any contact portions of practice. Johnson said he is still considered day-to-day.

“He’s not quite ready to practice yet,” the coach said. “It’s not necessarily just being conservative, he’s just not ready yet. Once he’s ready to practice, the next step will be hoping that he’s ready to get in a game.”

Johnson didn’t sound overly optimistic the 24-year-old would return for Tuesday’s game against the Knicks.

“We’ll see,” Johnson said. “You know how it is with us around here, it’s practice and it’s recovery. You can’t just stick a guy that’s had a foot situation in a game when he hasn’t practiced. It just makes no sense.” He’s got to be able to practice and then recover well. Whenever that is, if it’s Tuesday, whenever it is, that’s kind of the plan.”

Johnson said Lopez will do some work today and hopes the center will practice tomorrow, but didn’t have any concrete timelines. The Nets are 1-3 with Lopez out of the lineup, and Williams said he doesn’t believe the team’s recent defensive struggles are a coincidence in his absence.

“It hurts. With him the middle, he takes up a lot of space,” Williams said. “He’s been blocking shots. He’s a big part of our defense. It’s no surprise that when he went out we struggled a little bit.”