Beating up on cellar dwellers like the Knicks is one thing, but t𝐆aking on heavyweights like Toronto, Boston🌠 and Houston is another.
The Nets caught a 122-105 beating in Toronto to start off thi꧋s grueling three-game gauntlet. And if they don’t want one rout to fester into a full-fledged slump, they knew they had better show a lot more Monday at Barclays Center against Boston than they did up north.
“We say we want to be a playoff team — we have to beat playoff teams,” 🙈Ed Davis said. “It’s easy to go out and beat the Hawks and Knicks and teams like that. You really see where you’re at when you play Toronto, Boston, at Houston.
“We can’t ge🍌t too high, can’t get too low. We’ve got Boston next⛄. We’ve got Boston at home. We’ve got to lock in, prepare and be ready for them. We’ve got to take it one game at a time. We can’t look past anyone. We don’t have the luxury to do that.”
The Nets had snapped an eight-game skid with a victory over Toronto, one that sparked their recent 13-5 run. But apparently the North really does remember, because the Ra๊ptors led by 26 and force-fed the Nets some humble pie.
Coach Kenny Atkinson chastised his team’s lack of effort, which, combined with poor execution, le𒁃d to a one-sided caning. Come out flat again Monday against Boston (25-16) — or Wednesdꦕay at Houston (24-17) — and they will likely take another beating.
“Yeah, and they know it. They un🃏derstand it,” Atkinson said. “They understand we’ve got Boston coming up, and if we’re kind of the same effort and execution, you’re going to take 20 on the chin.
“I keep saying we’ve made str𝕴ides, but we have a long way to go. I think we’re humble enough to understand that. We’re fighting every game. I don’t want to measure us just by [Friday’s loss] because we’ve had some good wins against some really good teams. So we’re going to have to continue to do that if♛ we want to achieve something really important.”
Making the playoffs two years after this regime’s NBA-worst 20-62 debut season would be really important. And it’s a feasible for this team, enteri🐈ng Saturday seventh in the Eastern Conference.
While the top five in the East seem fairly set, six teams were within 3½ games of each other, jostling ♉for just three playoff spots. The Nets were only a game behind sixth-seeded Miami, which hosted Memphis on Saturday. They were two games clear of ninth-place Detroit, which had dropped four straight entering a Saturday clash with the Clippers.
But as Davis pointed out, the Nets areꦜ not about to play♐ the Knicks and Hawks.
On Monday, they will play host to the Celtics, who had won 15 of their past 21 since a 10-10 start and are beginning to look like the team that made last y👍ear’s Eastern Conference ♐final.
Then on Wednesday, they will travel to Houston to face reigning MVP James Harden and his Rockets. Houston won 13 of 16, while Ha𓆉rden has thre﷽e 40-point triple-doubles in the past six games.
In short, he’s been virtually unstoppable. And the Nets are going to be facing him without Caris LeVert, Allen Crabbe, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and likely without🌜☂ Jared Dudley as well.
“That defini🎃tely oꦿbviously is the elephant in the room, the injuries we’ve had to deal with and trying to once again figure out our identity with losing JD most recently,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “But we’re going to figure it out.
“We’ve been a resilient group. We’ve figured out every step and every stage. Obviously𓆏 playing a higher caliber of opponent is going to make the learning curve need to be sped up a little bit. But it’s something that I believe we’re all ready to do and capable of doing with the talent that’s healthy in this locker room.”