SACRAMENTO – The Nets came west bright-eyed, convinced they could reverse their ill-fated fortunes. They were so hopeful, so optimistic.
Don’t you just hate seeing all that hope and optimism so ruthlessly crushed?
Two games, two losses and the best that can be said is they should have won one of the games before losing. Drawing solace from that is like the candidate getting pumped about winning Wyoming before giving his concession speech 11 minutes after the polls close.
“Obviously we had high expectations,” said Bostjan Nachbar.
So did Dewey, McGovern and Gore.
“We’re 0-2 now on this trip and there are four games left, so there’s a chance after we leave Minnesota, we’re going to be feeling good about ourselves,” Nachbar added.
“We still have a chance to have a good trip, but that’s tough to know after a game we should have won [at the Clippers] and [Phoenix] where we pretty much trailed the whole game.”
The Nets’ skid hit five straight with six defeats in seven games after a 116-92 blitz in Phoenix Sunday. Now the Nets play the now-healthy, revamped Kings tonight here where historically they’ve been about as good as they were in Phoenix. The Nets are 6-27 on the road against the Kings.
Then they get Golden State. The Warriors already lost to the Nets in New Jersey, but with their offense – and the way the Nets are allegedly playing defense of late – that could be swell. Next they go to Denver where they are 8-26 all time. But they finish in Minnesota. Lose that one and season ticket holders just may try to figure out the rules of cricket.
“Obviously it’s tough,” said Josh Boone, who continues his on-the-job development (at least eight rebounds 15 times in 20 games) but whose left ankle (turned Sunday) bears watching tonight.
“We came out here to turn things around and so far it hasn’t’ gone our way. But we still have four games left on the trip, plenty of time to right the ship and get back to .500.”
Time, yes. The talent? Another matter.
In those last seven games, the Nets are a mess. They’ve been outscored 105.0-93.1. They’ve been outshot .489 (274-of-560) to .425 (240-of-565). Suffice to say they’re getting whipped in most team categories.