The Brooklyn Nets have been trying to regain their identity ever since they began this season with a 13-10 record, but have not yet gotten back to their winning ways. While interim head coach Kevin Ollie, along with other players, has been repeatedly saying that the team has to play with energy and pride, there are still instances where the team fails to play with either of those characteristics.
The Nets lost at the Indiana Pacers on Saturday 121-100 and one of the main reasons for the loss was Brooklyn’s lost of focus in the second half compared to how they played in the first half. The Nets went into halftime trailing 59-57 thanks to some big minutes from Dorian Finney-Smith and Cam Johnson, who combined for 20 points, five rebounds, and three steals.
In the second half, specifically the fourth quarter, things fell of the rails for Brooklyn due to the inability to stop the Pacers in any facet of their game, especially scoring in the paint. After a certain point, it was clear that the Nets were unable to maintain the focus and intensity that they had in the first half as Indiana continued to get to the basket and get out in transition.
After the loss, Ollie was asked about what comes first: do the players trust each other and then, the winning results begin to happen? Or, do the winning results happen and then, the players trust each other? Ollie gave an passionate answer:
“We’ve seen it. We’ve seen it in Cleveland, we’ve seen it in different games, we’ve seen it in both Atlanta games, I mean chicken or egg, you’ve seen it before. So, how can we be more consistent with that? We’ve seen the other results when we do it that way, where we turning the ball over, we’re not taking care of the ball, when we’re not getting defensive rebounds. So, like I keep saying, our margin of error is very short, it’s very limited, and we got to play the right way.”
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