The Brooklyn Nets suffered a demoralizing 124-101 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday in which the Nets for truly competitive for about the first 16 minutes or so. After a few minutes passed in the third quarter, it was clear that Brooklyn did not have anything going to reasonable compete with the Nuggets.
While some are calling the loss a “schedule” defeat given that the Nets played the Phoenix Suns just 24 hours prior, Brooklyn could still have been more competitive than they were. However, it can also be true that they fell victim to the unfortunate scenario of playing back-to-backs that almost everyone in the NBA dreads when the schedule first comes out.
As Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has said repeatedly over the course of this season, he does not make excuses. That seems to be a nod to what his mentality was as a former NBA player, but being tired is a good reason for not being able to compete at your usual level.
With that being said, here are three takeaways from the Nets’ loss to the Nuggets on Thursday: