Jason Terry summed up the state of the Nets quite nicely after Wednesday’s practice.
“I mean, if it gets any worse,” Terry said, “who the [expletive] knows?
“I don’t.”
Well, he’s about to find out.
The Nets welcomed their cross-town rivals into Brooklyn — the same crosstown rivals who had lost nine straight games entering Thursday night’s contest — and proceeded to get blown out of Barclays Center, 113-83, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 that either was cheering for the Knicks or booing the Nets.
“It hurts big regardless of who we’re playing,” said Joe Johnson, who finished with 13 points but went just 4-for-15 from the field. “This loss here is not more significant than another loss.
“We just can’t seem to get a win in our own building. … It’s embarrassing at this point.”
The Nets —who have lost six straight games at home, and 12 of their last 15 games overall — trailed the entire game after allowing the Knicks to shoot one wide-open 3-pointer after another, and once again getting obliterated in the third quarter in what has become virtually a guaranteed event in each game.
Led by Iman Shumpert, who went 5-for-7 from 3-point range en route to finishing with 17 points, the Knicks went 16-for-27 (59.3 percent) from 3-point range, as it seemed every single look they got was without a Net within the same area code.
Meanwhile, the Nets shot a combined 20-for-55 (36.4 percent) from the field. Brook Lopez finished with 24 points,
“We did what we wanted to do and kept them out of the paint,” Alan Anderson said. “But when they’re shooting like that, there’s not much you can do. They live and die by the three. … They were on a nine-game losing streak, and they missed those threes in those games, and tonight they made them.”
The Knicks (4-13) got off to a hot start in the first quarter, making 12 of their first 16 shots.
After trailing 50-43 at halftime, the Nets allowed the Knicks to go wild in the third, led by Shumpert, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the middle of a 16-5 run that took the score from 55-47 early to 71-52 with 4:09 remaining in the quarter. The period ended with the Nets trailing 84-59 and hearing a chorus of boos from the crowd.
“It’s not ideal,” Kevin Garnett said of getting blown out once again at home after finishing with six points and six rebounds in 19:56. “Nothing just went our way from the giddy-up.”
The only excitement left was when Andrea Bargnani and Garnett got tangled up early in the final period, both earning technical fouls. Bargnani, who finished with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting, was ejected minutes later after jawing at Garnett after making a jump shot.
Now the Nets head to Milwaukee after an off-day Friday searching for some way to get themselves going after yet another embarrassing loss.
“At the end of the day, it’s basketball,” Johnson said. “I think we’re making it a lot more complicated than it really is. It’s on us as players to play and work harder at what we’re doing. Regardless of if we’re getting beat by teams that are better than us, I’m sure they’re not 25, 30 points better than us in our own building. That’s on us as players.”