NBA

Nets fall as Warriors use size to dominate inside

OAKLAND – The Nets had spent the past three days prior to Saturday’s game against the Warriors talking about their need to add another big man, after failing to acquire one prior to Thursday’s trade deadline. Then they took the floor against Golden State and showed exactly why it’s such a pressing need.

Playing a Warriors team missing its starting center and power forward, the Nets were dominated on the glass and in the paint, both of which led to them dropping an 93-86 decision to Golden State in a game the Nets easily could have won.

“It’s just something that, as a team, these are the guys we have,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said afterwards. “We have to figure out how to rebound as a team.”

With the loss, the Nets (25-28) dropped into a three-way tie for sixth with the Bobcats and Hawks, who both won earlier Saturday, and suddenly find themselves needing a win Sunday in Los Angeles against the Lakers in the second half of a back-to-back – a scenario in which they are 2-10 in this season – to avoid falling into eighth place in the East.

“This [Lakers] game is huge, man,” Deron Williams said. “It’s disappointing to lose this one, but like you said, we have to get back at it tomorrow. It’s been a struggle for us all year, but we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

While the fact the Nets were a dismal 2-for-21 (9.5 percent) from 3-point range certainly didn’t help matters, the reason the Nets were unable to come away with a second straight win to open their two-week Western swing was because of the way the Warriors dominated them inside.

Even with Andrew Bogut (shoulder) and David Lee (flu) missing, the Warriors still finished the game with convincing advantages in rebounds (50-39) and points in the paint (52-38). Those advantages were built largely on the performances of the backup bigs for Golden State, Jermaine O’Neal (23 points and 13 rebounds) and Draymond Green (18 points and 10 rebounds).

“In the scheme, you’re taking away threes and you’re trying to make them take twos, and you’re going to give up something,” said Kevin Garnett, who had six points and seven rebounds. “Tonight, I haven’t seen [O’Neal] play like that [in years] … I’m glad he found the Fountain of Youth.

“He played great tonight, but the scheme was to take away threes, make them shoot more twos, and in that you’re going to have long shots, you’re moving, things are shifting … but, still, no excuses. We have to be able to get those.”

Still, the Nets had their chances, tying the game up multiple times in the fourth quarter. But after a Joe Johnson pass was deflected off of Deron Williams’ hand and out of bounds with less than a minute left and the Warriors clinging to an 88-86 lead, a contested Stephen Curry 3-pointer from the wing somehow banked in with 37.2 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Deron Williams finished with 20 points and six assists in 39 minutes to lead the Nets, while Joe Johnson added 15 but shot just 5-for-16 from the field and had four turnovers, including two in the final minute of play.

“I’m speaking for the last two plays down the stretch,” Johnson said. “That was me being a little too excited, not taking my time and just rushing it in the moment. It cost us. I got us two turnovers down the stretch, and it hurt us.”

The Nets, who only led once in the game for a grand total of 18 seconds late in the first half, also lost Shaun Livingston to a bruised tailbone he suffered on a fall late in the first quarter. Although Livingston remained in the game, when he checked out of the game early in the second, he went into the locker room and never returned.

He went for X-rays, which were negative, and while he didn’t rule himself out for Sunday’s game against the Lakers, he didn’t sound optimistic about his chances of playing.

“We’ll see,” Livingston said. “[The day after] is usually the worst day, so I’ll have to wake up tomorrow and just kind of go from there and see how it feels.”