NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets ended their five-game losing streak after beating the Detroit Pistons on Saturday 126-115. While it was the worst losing streak for the Nets this season, it also gave Brooklyn the chance to understand why the losing happened and reset themselves for more winning in the future.
“I think it’s going to strengthen us in the long run,” Johnson said of the losing streak and what he felt that the team learned from it. Johnson had 18 points and two steals in Saturday’s win over the Pistons and that performance was part of a larger story for the Nets as a team.
Most of the losing streak happened during Brooklyn’s five-game west coast road trip, but when the Nets lost on Friday to the Nuggets 122-117, it showed that Brooklyn was good enough to compete with the better teams in the NBA.
“I think we recognized what kind of went wrong in that losing streak and the juice that we need to have night in, night out,” Johnson explained. “And, in a way, I think we brought a lot of joy back to playing a game tonight. Even last night (against the Nuggets), we take those teams really personally in the frustration. But, I think sometimes, we were able to spin into a positive and just find joy in playing and playing hard and trusting each other.”
The Nets face this Pistons game again on Tuesday where Brooklyn will be trying to extend its winning streak to two games while Detroit will be trying to avoid making history by losing a 27th straight game. While Johnson and the Nets do not know what a 26-game losing streak feels like, they’re also more prepared for when the next losing streak comes.
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