Lack of size catching up to slumping Nets

Drop third straight in 122-114 loss to Phoenix at Barclays Center

November 1, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

D’Angelo Russell’s 33 points weren’t enough Tuesday night as the Nets melted down in the fourth quarter against the Phoenix Suns en route to their third consecutive defeat. AP Photo by Kathy Willens

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Kenny Atkinson spent most of the summer and early part of this season shrugging off the Brooklyn Nets’ lack of size and depth at the center and power forward positions.

But that’s when he could afford to do so.

The undersized Nets were dominated on the boards and suffered another late meltdown Tuesday night at Downtown’s Barclays Center, enduring a third consecutive defeat since their surprising start, 122-114, to the visiting Phoenix Suns in front of 12,936 fans on the corners of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues.

Brooklyn (3-5) was outrebounded by a whopping 66-44 margin as both rookie big man Jarrett Allen (foot) and power forward Quincy Acy (groin) sat out due to injury.

The Nets did have veteran center Timofey Mozgov, DeMarre Carroll, Trevor Booker and seldom-used pivotman Tyler Zeller to help along the boards, but the quartet combined for only 18 caroms as the Suns repeatedly beat Brooklyn to the glass.

Meanwhile, Tyson Chandler, TJ Warren and Alex Len led the Suns’ backboard assault by amassing 39 rebounds on a night the Nets fought back from an 18-point, third-quarter deficit, only to watch Phoenix go on a decisive 18-2 run down the stretch.

“I thought Warren really hurt us,” Atkinson lamented. “He had some big offensive rebounds at the end and we couldn’t keep him off. I think [Devin] Booker attracts a lot of attention.

“You try to dig and help on him and then he missed a couple and Warren slices in there and big-time rebounds, they hurt.”

None hurt more than one collected by Phoenix point guard Mike James, who complemented Devin Booker’s team-high 32-points performance with 24 of his own.

The 6-foot-1 point guard drove through the Brooklyn paint with Phoenix holding a 116-110 lead with 1:37 to play.

His shot attempt rimmed out, but James deftly snuck past a pair of defenders for the rebound and laid in a soft floater that gave the Suns an eight-point advantage.

“Second chance [points]. I think, once again, it came down to missed free throws, missed blockouts, stuff like that,” said Nets point man D’Angelo Russell, who poured in a team season-high 33 points.

“Got to want it more, got to come out and compete no matter what,” added Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who continued his strong early season play with 21 points and seven boards. “Height, size doesn’t matter. It’s about who wants it more.”

The Nets may want it just as much as their opponents, but through the first eight contests of this up-and-down campaign they are simply not up to snuff in the rebounding department.

Brooklyn ranks 25th in the league with a minus-3.6 differential off the glass, a number that took a big hit without Allen and Acy Tuesday night.

Despite their deficiency on the boards, the Nets were in position to snap a two-game skid and improve to 4-1 at Barclays before their second straight second-half collapse.

Brooklyn, which gave up 40 points in the third quarter in an eventual 124-111 loss to visiting Denver on Sunday, saved its worst for last Tuesday.

Hollis-Jefferson scored to give the Nets an eight-point lead with 6:35 remaining in regulation, but Brooklyn managed only eight points, thereafter, falling behind for good when Warren tipped in a rebound with 3:48 left.

“They just took over,” Atkinson admitted. “We didn’t make plays. I thought our shot selection was iffy. I thought our shot selection was iffy all game.

“I think we set a Nets record for midrange contested jump shots. We have to improve our shot selection and I think that will help our defense, help our spirit. But a lot of contested shots from everybody tonight.”

Spencer Dinwiddie scored 15 points off the bench, Carroll added 13 and Caris LeVert finished with 11 for the Nets, who will try to put things back together during their upcoming five-game West Coast swing, which kicks off Friday night in Los Angeles against the Lakers.

“Stay together, keep believing in the process, keep believing in each other, keep believing in what the coaches believe in and everything will change,” said Hollis-Jefferson when asked how Brooklyn can rediscover the rhythm, resilience and, most importantly, rebounding, that helped it win three of its first five games this season.

Nothing But Net: Acy, who has missed two straight games with a left groin strain, may not be available again when the Nets open their trip against the Lakers Friday night. Allen indicated that he “felt good” following Tuesday night’s loss, and may see action in Los Angeles … Russell, who spent his first two seasons in Los Angeles before coming here in the trade for Nets all-time leading scorer and rebounder Brook Lopez, will face off against his former teammates on the Lakers for the first time in the opening game of the trip … The Nets went 21-for-30 at the free-throw line in Tuesday’s loss, missing several shots from the charity stripe in crunch time. “Yes. I don’t know what we shot, but I know we missed a lot of free throws,” Russell said. “Yes, we can be better. The game came down to, I don’t know what we lost by, but they were shooting way better from the free-throw line than us. If we were capitalizing from the line, it would have been better.” Phoenix made 22-of-24 at the line.