NBA

P.J. says Nets have to forget Game 4 collapse

NATE THE GRATE: The Nets prefer not to think about the Bulls’ Nate Robinson erasing their fourth-quarter lead in the Game 4 loss. (EPA)

The Nets were minutes away from coming home with the series tied. Now they may be hours away from going home for the summer.

After Saturday’s stunning collapse and eventual 142-134 triple-overtime loss to the Bulls in Game 4, the Nets are down 3-1 in their best-of-seven first-round series heading into tonight’s Game 5.

Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo says his Nets may be down, but they’re not out.

“Playoffs are a game at a time,” Carlesimo said on a conference call yesterday. “The mindset will be totally different [tonight], and if we can get the job done, it will be totally different going into [Game 6] Thursday.

“You win or you go home. It’s as simple as that. This is, for us, an actual example of that, and I think we’ll respond to that. I also don’t think that it’s difficult for our guys to feel they’re capable of doing this … [the players] know we can do it, they know this game is in Brooklyn, and I do think they’ll bounce back and I do think [coming back] is doable.”

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When the Nets held a 14-point lead with three minutes remaining in Game 4, it looked as if they were on their way to heading back to Brooklyn with the series knotted 2-2. But then they fell apart, allowing Nate Robinson to power the Bulls to a 14-0 run that tied the game and eventually forced overtime, a late-game collapse that Carlesimo called “devastating.” NBA teams are 8-202 all-time in series after trailing 3-1.

After giving the Nets yesterday off — outside of six or seven players, according to Carlesimo, coming in for treatment — he said though the team would review some specific plays from its disastrous final few minutes of regulation in Game 4, the focus instead would be on putting the performance behind them and focusing on extending their season.

“There’s certain plays we’ll watch,” Carlesimo said. “We’ll talk about things [today], but it might be more talking about how big boxing out is or we gave up a big offensive rebound. We won’t watch the last three minutes and say, ‘We missed this free throw, we turned this ball over, we did A, B, C, D.’

“I don’t think we need that. … I think [today] is more positive, and I think it’s really important for us to be looking ahead, and not backwards. There will be enough motivation — they’re not going to forget what happened on Saturday — but we need to dwell on [tonight], not Saturday.”

Up until the collapse, there were plenty of positives for the Nets to take out of the game. They managed the pace much better than they did in their losses in Games 2 and 3 — both of which the Bulls turned into grind-it-out slugfests that suit their defensive approach — and did a much better job of moving the ball on offense and getting much-needed contributions from Gerald Wallace and Reggie Evans, who combined for 32 points on 10-for-16 shooting.

All of that gives Carlesimo confidence his team will be able to bounce back from Saturday’s crushing loss.

“We did enough good things to win, but we didn’t close the deal,” Carlesimo said. “I think that gives us confidence going forward because we aren’t asking [the players] to do something that we haven’t done before. Can we score points, can we take care of the ball, can we rebound, can we defend? … Yes, we can do all these things, but we have to do it for 48 minutes.

“Like I said, the mindset of the playoffs is a game at a time. We’re not talking about anything but [tonight] right now.

“We’re just gonna come in and play hard and get a win.”