NEW YORK — If this is what an expedited jelling process looks like, the Nets need a new overnight delivery service.
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said ahead of tipoff against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday that the team has done everything — from spending more time together in the locker room to taking advantage of additional practice days — to fast track chemistry for a starting lineup that was assembled at the trade deadline.
It’s clear after a lifeless performance against the league-worst Rockets just how much ground the Nets have to make up if they’re going to secure the sixth and final guaranteed playoff seed — the same seed the No. 7 Miami Heat are eyeing with their inspired play in recent weeks.
The Nets rallied late to secure a 123-114 victory over the Rockets at Barclays Center on Wednesday, ending a skid in which Brooklyn had lost six of its last seven games. The Rockets, however, who have yet to crack 20 wins on the season and own the worst record in the Western Conference, stayed within striking distance the entire night and took a one-point lead into the half.
“It’s an interesting case study on this one. I don’t think I’ve been a part of a team where you’ve got four new guys and all the guys are starters. And I just think that’s a different atmosphere than I’ve been a part of,” Vaughn said pregame on Wednesday. “I think we’ve tried to expedite the process of the jelling of this group, whether that is more time in the locker room, whether that is yesterday taking advantage of us being on the court together and talking amongst each other, because you still have old habits from your old team and you still can revert back to old terminology, so it’s just habits. That’s probably been the hardest part while you’re trying to win games at the same time.”
Houston led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter and never trailed by more than seven until they succumbed to Brooklyn’s late-game run. The Rockets led, 108-103, at the 3:40 mark of the final period before the Nets responded with a 16-4 run that extended into the final seconds of regulation.
The Nets outscored the Rockets, 37-27, to close the game in the fourth quarter.
Cam Johnson led the Nets with 31 points on 5-of-9 shooting from downtown, and Mikal Bridges added 27 with four 3s of his own. Spencer Dinwiddie recorded another double-double with 20 points and 11 assists, and Nic Claxton finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The Nets, however, will have to tighten up. The Rockets are hardly playoff competition.
Houston dropped its previous three games by a combined 76 points before walking into Barclays Center on Wednesday. The Rockets came to Brooklyn riding a six-game losing streak which extended to seven against the Nets.
The same can’t be said for the remaining six teams on the Nets’ schedule, or the teams they could see in the play-in tournament if they cede the sixth seed to Miami.
Of the six remaining teams on the docket, only the Detroit Pistons have fared worse than the Rockets in recent weeks, losing 20 of their last 22 games.
“Not having a full training camp, I think you get a lot of that established in your philosophy during training camp, and right now, I’m still figuring out what’s best for this group, whether that is defensively, whether that is how to improve this group, whether that is continuing to learn how a particular player can take input that I give him,” Vaughn continued. “So you still have those things where relationships over time, they just get built, and our time is being expedited right now.”
The Nets have now improved to a 41-35 record on the season. They continue to hold sole ownership of the Eastern Conference’s No. 6 seed and are 2.5 games behind the fifth-seeded Knicks.
The Knicks beat the seventh-seeded Heat, 101-92, at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Miami (40-37) now trails Brooklyn by 1.5 games in the standings.
The Heat only have five games remaining on their schedule to the Nets’ six. The Nets entered Wednesday with the easiest remaining schedule among all 30 NBA teams. Miami has the seventh-easiest.
