Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has always maintained an attitude of continuing to fight even if the win is out of reach. He has had to find ways to keep his players engaged and determined during the team’s recent stretch of losing and rough basketball.
In Wednesday’s 142-118 loss to the New York Knicks, Brooklyn seemed to be the victim of a poor start to the first quarter that they couldn’t overcome. Despite being even with the Knicks in the second half (61-61), the Nets were down 24 points heading into halftime and that deficit proved too much for Brooklyn to battle back from.
Vaughn has always preached to his players to have pride in their performances and on Wednesday, that pride was hurt a bit. Not only because of the margin of the loss, but because it was to the Knicks. Now that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are no longer in Brooklyn, it seems that the rivalry is shifting towards the team that plays in Madison Square Garden. Vaughn said after the game that his players should be upset and hurt by the loss:
“Yeah, we have some competitive guys. And so, they are concerned about winning. We’ve always made that the priority. We’re not hiding from that, we’re trying to win every single game. And so, I ask that we give just more. And, that means, whether it’s more time together, back to backs, shoot arounds, recovery days, all of the above. We’re going to have to give more to bring our group together quicker than normal. But, they’re human beings. To give up 142 points to your crosstown team, that hurts. And, it should hurt and ask them at halftime if you did hurt as a group, the care factor rising to a different level, it should hurt.”
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