AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Who the heck were those guys that came out to face the Pistons last night? There were 10 of them, for crying out loud.
Yes, they had “Nets” on the front of their uniforms but there were 10 players devoid of casts, splints, IV drips and clergy administering last rites. The Nets usually show up with only nine — once, eight — able-bodied players.
Then the game started and you knew for sure they were the Nets.
“This was bad. It was one of our worst ones of the season,” a dejected Deron Williams said. “Down 30 points. Not much effort, not much fight. It was just one of those games where nothing can go right.”
Yup, down 19 at the half. Lacking energy. Facing a deficit as high as 30. And ultimately landing on the wrong end of the score as they made Lawrence Frank’s Pistons, who had not scored 100 points in a regulation game, look like Bad Boys vintage. The Nets, in a season of lows, may have found a new bottom as Detroit rolled to a 109-92 victory, its fourth straight, at the Palace. It was the Nets’ fifth straight loss and seventh in eight games.
“It’s the same old story every game. It’s kind of hard to really answer what went wrong,” said Williams, who had 14 points and four assists as the Nets blew countless set-up shots at the rim. “Was it the first quarter, was it the second quarter?”
It was more the first, second, third and fourth quarters. The undersized Nets — who started three guards, including Anthony Morrow and Jordan Farmar — were clobbered on the glass, 47-31. They scored the first seven points before the Pistons countered with 23 of the next 27.
“Very disappointed,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “They were hitting on every cylinder. We had poor execution on both ends of the floor and we just can’t finish in the paint.”
They didn’t do too swell outside, either, going 5-of-19 on 3-pointers, with Morrow and Williams combining for 0-of-9.
The wretched play wiped away any good feeling generated by the return of MarShon Brooks (seven points), who was cleared to play earlier in the day after sitting the previous six games with a broken right pinky toe.
“He progressed faster than we thought,” said general manager Billy King.
And the Nets regressed with alarming quickness. Johan Petro, who played 20 minutes, led the Nets with 16 points. Jonas Jerebko scored 20 points to top five double-figure scorers for Detroit (8-20).
I was just excited to be out there,” said Brooks, who was 2-of-7 from the field in 17 minutes. “I could have played a lot better. I wish I could have played a lot better. But I don’t want to get down on myself. I had the opportunity to see the ball go through the hole.”
Brooks could start a flood of returning bodies, but not all the injury news is good.
Brook Lopez hopes to be back playing after the All-Star Game and although King said it was doubtful, expressed hope of practicing next week. DeShawn Stevenson, who missed a seventh straight game last night with a sore knee, said he feels best he has felt “since 2004” after receiving PRP injections — the procedure in which blood is drained, spun in a centrifuge and then reinjected. Some of the injury news is worse. Keith Bogans is almost certainly done for the season, although King is hesitant to say that. The general manager wants to wait until after Monday’s surgery for a fractured left ankle and a complete tear of the left deltoid ligament suffered Wednesday. Still, King does not anticipate a personnel move.
“We have 15 guaranteed spots and … I don’t expect to bring anybody in, I don’t expect to waive anybody to create a spot,” King said.
Could have made a case for a bunch of guys last night.