The standings said Tuesday night’s game against the Pistons should have been a blowout, and even a cursory knowledge of the NBA right now would support that theory.
But, if there’s one thing that the Nets have learned so far this season, is that there really isn’t any such thing as “should have.” Not with the injuries and challenges they’ve faced, and not even against one of the worst teams in the league.
In fact, the only real certainty they’ve had this year is this: Kevin Durant will be Kevin Durant, and as long as that’s true, they have a chance against anyone. Tuesday, they needed every bit of that to beat a team that should have caused far less trouble.
Led by Durant’s 41 points and 11 rebounds, the Nets made up a 12-point second quarter deficit to keep the meddlesome Pistons at bay, 130-123 at Barclays Center. With the win, they remain a game ahead of the Hornets for eighth place in the standings; the Pistons are 14th.
The Nets had six players score in double digits, including Kyrie Irving, who scored 24 and Andre Drummond, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Cade Cunningham scored 17 of his 34 points in the fourth to keep the Pistons in it.
Down by three going into the third, the Nets took cobbled together an 11-3 run, highlighted by Bruce Brown’s right-wing three with under 10 minutes to go, which gave them the 69-67 advantage — their first lead since midway through the first quarter. Brown tacked on another three a minute later to punctuate the run.
But despite leading up by as many as eight in the third — courtesy of Durant’s 16 points in the quarter and Brown’s 10 — the Nets only outscored the Pistons 38-30 in the frame, giving them just a two-point cushion going into the fourth. The Pistons eventually tied the game at 99 on Braxton Key’s layup with 10:37 left to play, and briefly took the lead on Frank Jackson’s floater before the Nets scored the next five.
The Pistons tied it three times in the third — the final time on Cunningham’s jumper with 5:08 left. Durant, though, scored the next four, and Seth Curry hit a corner three to put the Nets up 115-108.
The Nets allowed the Pistons to look like an offensive powerhouse in the first half, letting them go 9-for-17 from the perimeter while committing 10 turnovers for 11 points, giving them a 64-58 halftime lead.
It was a continuation of previous struggles. Going into the day, they allowed opponents to shoot 44.3% from three in the last three games, including a whopping 53.1% to the Hornets Sunday. The Nets were able to clamp down on that in the second half and the Pistons ended up shooting 42.1% from three for the game. The deficiency is only further highlighted against the Pistons, though — they came into the night as the second-worst three-point shooting team in the league, at 32.4%.
Before the game, Steve Nash said he didn’t believe his team necessarily struggled with perimeter defense, despite what happened in the Hornets game, and cautioned against hasty adjustments.
“I think we’re always a work in progress but there’s an element of the last game where, as coaches, we go into the game and you have to be careful not to overreact,” he said. “You know, when you look at the tape, there was plenty of good defense, plenty of good possessions, plenty of activity in the first half…I think you don’t want to get too emotional in the moment and think of all the ways you can cure the world’s ills.”
