All the Achilles’ heels Kenny Atkinson had warned his Nets about going into the All-Star break were still on display as they came out of it. And they cost the Nets a game they had openly called a must-have, a 113-99 loss Thursday to the Trail Blazers before a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center.
With ex-Blazers Ed Davis, Allen Crabbe and Shabazz Napier all on the roster, Davis had circled this game on his calendar, not just for revenge but to open the proverbial second half on the right note. Instead, they tipped it off the same way they’ve played the past few weeks, while dropping six of eight.
“Rebounding, physicality, they were the more physical team,” Atkinson said. “I see 19 offensive rebounds. We couldn’t corral. I think we did a decent job on [Damian] Lillard and [CJ] McCollum, just a tough time rebounding.
“I said pregame that’s one of the things we’re focused on, so I’m disappointed there was no carryover from the emphasis at the All-Star break. So credit to Portland: Overall they were the more energetic, more physical team and deserved to win.”
No question there. The Nets (30-30) were bludgeoned 60-49 on the glass, gave up 19 offensive rebounds and 66 points in the paint. Rebounding is still a problem, as is power forward.
Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic led the way with a game-high 27 points and 12 boards, while ex-Knick Enes Kanter continued his Nets-killing ways with his new club, adding 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Ed DavisCorey Sipkin“It’s huge. They definitely killed us on the boards, Kanter, Nurkic, and the rest of the guys,” Davis said. “To win games, you definitely have to get stops, and defensive rebounding is one of the key points to that, so we’ll lock in. We’ll be better. They beat us up on the glass one through 15. We’ve got to take this one on the chin and get ready for Saturday.”
Saturday brings a game in Charlotte, which has pulled within 1 ½ games of the Nets for the sixth seed in the East. The Nets know they’d better give a better effort than they did Thursday.
“They outworked us,” said Crabbe, who had a team-high 17 points.
The Nets held Lillard — averaging 26.3 points — to 13 points on 5-of-21 shooting. But they saw Nurkic and McCollum (21 points) have big nights and couldn’t throw the ball in the East River themselves.
Brooklyn shot just 39.1 percent and 7-of-36 from deep. They’re still clearly trying to get in sync working Caris LeVert (12 points) back in the lineup and got just two points on 1-for-10 shooting combined from power forwards Treveon Graham, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Jared Dudley, making his first appearance after missing 16 straight.
“Yeah, [power forward] is definitely something we’ve got to look at. It wasn’t productive on the offensive end,” Atkinson said. “We had some good looks. TG had a bunch of great looks, they didn’t go in. Rondae struggled a bit. I thought he was aggressive. We tried [DeMarre Carroll] at the four, then went super-small when we were down. So we’re just going to have to figure that one out.”
The Nets trailed 23-19 late in the first quarter before Crabbe had seven points in a 15-2 run to take a 34-25 edge. But they saw it evaporate and trailed 66-63 when they fell apart altogether.
The Nets allowed an 8-0 run, with Kanter’s layup leaving them in a 74-63 hole. It swelled to 82-67 on his basket.
They were still down 90-77 in the fourth when a 12-0 run brought them back into it. Carroll hit a long jumper to make it 90-89. But the Blazers killed the rally with an Al-Farouq Aminu pull-up jumper and Nurkic’s free throws, and the Nets never got over the hump.
