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Tim BontempsESPN
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — After the Brooklyn Nets were routed by the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night on their home floor, losing 117-99 to fall to 0-4 this season against the Warriors, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks, Nets coach Steve Nash said his team doesn’t belong in the same conversation as those teams yet.
“Well, I just don’t think we’re in that category yet,” Nash said, after Brooklyn was blown out in the third quarter despite Stephen Curry sitting for the majority of it with foul trouble. “We got a lot of work to do. We’re trying to improve as a group, get better and hopefully we can find a way to overcome some of our deficiencies by the end of the year.”
The Nets, at 10-5, sit a game behind the East-leading Washington Wizards and a half-game behind the Bulls in second. But despite their record, and their star power, Nash was disappointed with the way his team faded in the second half against Golden State — just as it did in the fourth quarter in Chicago last week.
In facing a Warriors team that is steeped in corporate knowledge with the likes of coach Steve Kerr and stars Curry and Draymond Green — all of whom have been together for seven-plus seasons — the Nets repeatedly said continuity is something they’re going to have to spend the season catching up on.
“We’re just trying to get better every game,” Nets star James Harden said after finishing with 24 points, four rebounds and four assists. “The goal is to be the best team at the end of the season, in the postseason. That’s the goal. But probably not [there yet]. We’re probably nowhere near. But it’s a long season for us to get better, and we will continue to get better.”
Asked what it will take to get there, Harden talked about creating an identity for how to play at both ends — something the Warriors, at a league-leading 12-2 and beginning to resemble the teams that won the 2015 NBA title and made the 2016 NBA Finals before current Net Kevin Durant…
Source : espn
