It’s early in the season, but after a good start, the Brooklyn Nets have reached a fork in the road. On the left road are wins. On the right are losses, the road that Brooklyn has recently strolled down.
Since beating the Cleveland Cavaliers six games back Oct. 25, Brooklyn, now 4-7, has only won one of those six games, a 98-92 road victory over the Phoenix Suns Monday night, ending the four-game losing streak. With Brooklyn currently a 13 seed, only the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks, two teams that have fallen dramatically from their higher seeds in previous years, are lower at 14th and 15th place, lining the bottom of the Eastern Conference division.
The Nets are currently on their first road trip, five games traveling through the west. A 12-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Friday, the win in Phoenix Monday and a 112-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets Tuesday, a back to back, a loss explained by Nets’ forward DeMarre Carroll as “a little lackadaisical and no energy.”
Brooklyn’s head coach Kenny Atkinson blames it on the circumstances, poor execution, no juice. “The execution wasn’t good. It was like we were walking in mud in everything we did,” Atkinson explained, with two more games of their first extensive road trip to go, the Portland Trailblazers tomorrow night, Friday, and another back to back Saturday against the Utah Jazz.
Other than some personal days off, or more time for team preparation, Brooklyn won’t get much of a break in their return home. On the schedule for Tuesday are the Boston Celtics, Kyrie Irving’s first visit since departing Cleveland; the Jazz Friday (Nov. 17); and the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, featuring all-stars Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Draymond Green and all of the rest, next Sunday, Nov. 19.