Before Nets coach Lionel Hollins faced his old team in Brooklyn Wednesday night, he said his new team needed to find some way to snap its losing streak.
“We fought, we scratched, we clawed and we got back to 16-16, and then we lost six in a row,” Hollins said before the Nets played the Grizzlies. “We’ve got to somehow find a way to break that six-game losing streak and get back to winning, if we can. Maybe we’ve maxed out. I don’t know. But that’s what we’re striving for.”
After losing 103-92 to Memphis inside Barclays Center, the Nets are still striving for it. They saw their losing streak climb to a season-high seven games and their advantage over the pack of teams trailing them for the eighth playoff spot remain at a game-and-a-half heading into Friday’s beginning of a home-and-home with the Wizards in Washington.
“I know for me, personally, it’s tough to deal with,” said Jarrett Jack, who went 4-for-12 and finished with 10 points. “You try to look at the next opportunity you have to walk between the lines and try to turn everything around.
“That’s the only way to look at it. Just trying to look forward to Friday, and go out there and put out a complete 48-minute game and try to get a [win].”
Hollins got a taste of the medicine the Grizzlies used to deliver to opponents while he coached them, with Zach Randolph finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Marc Gasol added 18 points and eight rebounds.
The Grizzlies dominated the Nets in the paint, outscoring them 66-40 while putting up more shots (49) in the paint than Brooklyn had points. The Nets weren’t helped by missing Kevin Garnett, who was suspended for headbutting Dwight Howard in the first quarter of Monday’s loss to the Rockets.
“That’s what they do,” Hollins said. “They’ve got two big guys. … Zach had 20 points, Marc had 18 and most of them were in the paint for both of them.
“That’s their game. They’re a very good defensive team, they’re a very good rebounding team, and that’s why they’re one of the best teams in the league.”
The Nets (16-23) clearly are not, and after Mason Plumlee (15 points, nine rebounds) made a nifty spin move around Randolph and threw down a massive dunk for a 12-8 lead, the Grizzlies (27-11) showed why, going on a 14-2 run to take a 22-8 lead and ending the first quarter with a 32-23 advantage.
After a brief turnaround in the second quarter because of some hot-shooting from Mirza Teletovic that gave the Nets a 41-38 lead midway through the second quarter, the Grizzlies blew the game open with a 28-8 run that gave Memphis a commanding 66-49 lead midway through the third quarter and all but put the game away.
Most of that damage came early in that quarter, when Randolph, Gasol and Tony Allen combined to score 19 of the first 21 points of the second half and make sure the Grizzlies came away from their first meeting with their former coach with a victory.
“It’s tough, man,” Plumlee said. “No one is feeling sorry for us. We just have to get it together and get a win. Whatever that means — less turnovers, getting to the free throw line, being more aggressive. At the end of the day, you can point at everything, but we have to find a way to win.
“As a player, you know what it takes, and we have to go out and win. It’s simple … you’ve just got to win.”
