The Nets were already without James Harden (hamstring). But an APB needed to be put out on Kevin Durant, who couldn’t be found in the Nets’ 113-109 loss to the Mavericks on Thursday. It’s the Nets’ fourth loss in a row; not-so perfect timing for a team jockeying for playoff position.
Durant shot just 7 of 21 from the field for 20 points, missing all four of his attempts from deep. His night consisted of mostly clean and comfortable looks that either fell short off front iron.
Durant couldn’t heat up going to the rim, either. He missed back-to-back layups late in the fourth quarter, getting stopped on consecutive possessions as the Nets tried to rally late in the game.
His cold night came one game after he missed back-to-back attempts in the fourth quarter against the Bucks, which would have cut a five-point deficit to a two-point game in the Nets’ eventual 124-118 loss in Milwaukee. It also underscored a razor-sharp performance from Kyrie Irving, who scored 15 of the team’s last 24 points and finished with 45 points and seven made 3s.
Tuesday’s loss to the Mavericks tied the Nets with the Bucks in the loss column. Forget about the No. 1 seed. The Nets now fight to stay out of third place, just a half game in front of Milwaukee.
“It would be great to have the two seed, to even climb up to one,” Nets coach Steve Nash said before the game. “I don’t know that it’s more of a priority than us growing. We want to make sure that although we’d love to finish as high as possible, we aren’t limiting our growth potential in the short term and an ability to clean up and improve so we’re more prepared when the playoffs begin.”
Here’s one thing the Nets can clean up to be prepared for the playoffs: hit some shots. Durant wasn’t the only cold shooter on Thursday night. Landry Shamet missed all four of his attempts, Joe Harris shot just 2 for 6, and the Nets outside of Irving shot just 6 for 24 from downtown.
The Nets fell behind 10 early as Luka Doncic (10 rebounds, eight assists) scored 19 points of his 24 points in the first half.The Nets head coach responded in the second half by sending a double team at Doncic. It was successful and held him without a field goal not just throughout the third quarter, but until midway through the fourth.
The Nets have to shake their series of losses off and prepare to finish strong. They have five more games to go, with the Denver Nuggets next up, led by presumptive league MVP Nikola Jokic.
