Kevin Garnett’s fury at his team’s effort in Sunday’s loss in Orlando followed the Nets from the locker room to the bus to the airport to the 2 ¹/₂ -hour flight back to New York.
His message was a simple one, and was echoed by his longtime friend and teammate Paul Pierce: If the Nets want to achieve their lofty goals this season, they can’t have lackadaisical efforts like they did against the Magic.
It appears it didn’t take long for his words to sink in.
Back in Brooklyn against the winless Jazz on Tuesday night, the Nets immediately jumped out to a 12-2 lead and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire in a 104-88 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 inside Barclays Center.
“We’re trying to form something here,” Garnett said. “I think Paul reiterated some of what I was talking about, and it’s just consistency. You can’t play a passionate game against Miami and then go out and play the way we did against Orlando.
“I was just letting them know that consistency is the difference between great teams and OK teams. … That was the message.”
The Nets (2-2) looked like they heard it loud and clear against the Jazz (0-4), pounding Utah right from the opening tip. Pierce opened the scoring with a 3-pointer followed by buckets from Brook Lopez and Deron Williams as Brooklyn scored the first seven points.
Things didn’t get much closer after that, as the Nets’ lead never dipped below five, and after an 18-7 run in the latter part of the second quarter, the Nets’ lead stayed at double digits the rest of the way.
“We didn’t want to come into this game like we did in the Orlando game, complacently,” said Lopez, who finished with a team-high 27 points on 10-for-13 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. “We wanted to come out with an urgency and energy and give ourselves a chance right from the start. We wanted to come in and make an impression.”
It was a complete team effort from the Nets, who dominated the Jazz at both ends of the floor. Defensively, the Nets held Utah to 37.8 percent shooting, including 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) from behind the 3-point arc.
And after settling for one errant jumper after another throughout Sunday’s loss, the Nets made a concerted effort to attack the rim against the Jazz, outscoring them 58-26 on points in the paint and shooting 51.3 percent from the field.
“As a team, that’s what we talked about at practice yesterday,” said coach Jason Kidd, who was presented with the game ball by the team in honor of his first win on the bench. “We were kind of a jump-shooting team [Sunday], and yesterday’s practice was the only way you can score is by getting the ball in the paint. … That’s what we focused on, and those guys delivered.”
It was the kind of performance the Nets needed after Sunday’s showing, and one that backed up Garnett’s edict to his teammates that despite the amount of talent the Nets have assembled, they can’t take any nights off.
“We have to protect our home,” Garnett said. “We’re trying to establish something here at home. … Any teams that we feel we’re better than, we should go out and beat.
“When they’re playing here in Brooklyn, they have to know they’re playing here in Brooklyn, and that’s what we’re trying to establish.”
For one night, at least, they did.