NEW YORK -- Same story. Different day. The Brooklyn Nets dropped their fifth game in a row, 109-97, to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday afternoon at Barclays Center. They were booed off the court.
What it means: Winning with Deron Williams (ankle), Brook Lopez (ankle), Andrei Kirilenko (back) and Jason Terry (knee) is impossible -- especially when trying to rely on the likes of Kevin Garnett (2-for-9) and Paul Pierce (5-for-13, 12-for-47 in his last four games).
The Nets (3-10) have now lost eight of their last nine games. They played no defense, which made things quite easy for the Pistons (5-8), who outscored the Nets 56-22 in the paint. Joe Johnson was their lone bright spot with a season-high 34 points (the most he’s ever scored as a Net) on 12-for-18 shooting, including a career-high eight 3-pointers.
Nets coach Jason Kidd started the fourth quarter with a lineup of Mason Plumlee, Tornike Shengelia, Tyshawn Taylor, Alan Anderson and Mirza Teletovic. Yeah. That happened. Was he trying to send a message? Let’s face it: This is a bad basketball team that is absolutely decimated by injury.
Third is the bad word: The Nets led by seven at half. They trailed by 12 going into the fourth. You do the math. The Nets were outscored 34-15 in the third quarter -- they are 0-10 when losing the third this season. In those 10 losses, they have been outscored by a combined 96 points in the third.
Up next: The Nets practice Monday before heading across the border to take on the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.