NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets have not been on their game lately as they are slowly falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Nets guard Mikal Bridges believes that part of the issue for Brooklyn lately has been letting their offense affect their defense.
“I’m not sure,” Bridges said when asked what has been leading to the team’s slow starts at the beginning of games or at the beginning of quarters. In Monday’s 96-95 overtime loss to the Miami Heat on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Nets lead the Heat 45-31 going into halftime. However, Miami managed to go on a 19-5 run to tie the game at 50-50 with 5:19 left in the period.
“We were getting stops, but we can’t let making shots control our energy,” Bridges explained. There have been plenty of times this season where Brooklyn has let its offensive struggles bleed into the other end of the floor and that has made them the victim of some lopsided runs similar to what the Heat on Monday.
At one point, the Nets led by as many as 16 points, but ended up losing a game in which Bridges put up 26 points, nine rebounds, and six assists due to how poorly the team performed as a unit on both sides of the court. This seems to be a theme that is frustrating all of the Nets, Bridges included.
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