Sports

Nets look to avoid letdown vs. Toronto

Big Three aiming to improve game-to-game mindset

February 4, 2021 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

James Harden and the Nets stepped up defensively against the L.A. Clippers on Tuesday night. Will they do the same against the Toronto Raptors at Barclays Center on Friday? AP Photo by Kathy Willens

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The Brooklyn Nets are making a habit of stepping up to and over the best competition the NBA has to offer thus far this season.

It’s those other teams that are causing headaches for the Big Three and company.

“We have to come out and not embarrass ourselves and we played like that on both ends of the ball,” reigning NBA Player of the Week James Harden said following the Nets’ 124-120 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers at Downtown’s Barclays Center on Tuesday night.

“I don’t think as a team we have that mindset every single game,” the league’s assists leader admitted. “Once we get that you’re going to see a different Nets team.”

With the win over the Clippers, the Nets (14-9) improved to an eye-popping 6-0 against opponents that rank in the top four of their respective conference standings.

Los Angeles came to Brooklyn boasting the league’s best overall record at 16-4, but Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving made sure they returned to the West Coast with an “L”.

The Nets are 7-3 since acquiring Harden in last month’s blockbuster four-team trade and have won nine of their last 12 games overall. But when they aren’t up against an elite opponent, the Nets are a paltry 8-9 this year.

If they hope to seriously challenge for the Eastern Conference’s top seed and vie for our borough’s first major pro sports championship since 1955, the Nets have to get better against so-called lesser teams.

They’ll have an opportunity to do just that, albeit against the squad that eliminated them from the opening round of last year’s playoffs, when they host the Toronto Raptors here on Friday night.

Toronto (9-12) swept Brooklyn out of the NBA’s bubble site in Orlando, Florida last summer, but that was without either Irving or Durant on the floor.

Adding Harden to the mix against a team that is currently on the outside of the postseason race looking in should make Friday’s contest an easier one than the narrow victory over the Clippers.

The Nets, however, do have to be wary of the Raptors, who have won their last two games, including Tuesday’s 123-108 triumph at Orlando highlighted by Fred VanVleet’s franchise-record 54-point performance.

Fred VanVleet scored a franchise-record 54 points for Toronto on Tuesday night in Orlando. He and the visiting Raptors will be in Brooklyn Friday. AP Photo by John Raoux

Whether they actually will or not is still very much up in the air based on Brooklyn’s previous performances against teams that don’t strut into the building with the swagger of a potential title contender.

Last Sunday in Washington, D.C., the Nets squandered a five-point lead to the Wizards (5-13) in the final 8.1 seconds of regulation while yielding a season-high 149 points.

“Obviously we want to win every single game but you know we’re using this season and each and single game to get to know each other to grow as a team to build chemistry and get on the same page,” noted Harden.

“Obviously some games are going to be better than others but I think overall that same mindset that we had (Tuesday night), we have to have that same mindset every single game no matter who we’re playing. That’s when you’re going to see some growth out of all of this.”

Since Harden’s arrival, the Nets have posted a league-best offensive efficency rate of 121 points per 100 possessions.

But failing to grind and defend against teams that are toward the bottom of the standings has also been a trend, leaving Durant, a former two-time NBA Finals MVP, a bit befuddled by Brooklyn’s lack of consistency.

“I feel like a lot of teams are making us pay off for small mental mistakes; like you not switching a screen when you’re supposed to, or helping too much and boom they get a three,” he said.

“That stuff compounds itself and you make two or three of those plays, three or four of those plays in a half, the defense, that’s the difference between shooting 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the field,”

The Nets certainly were bearing down on “D” Tuesday, holding the previously red-hot Clippers to 45.5 percent shooting in a nationally televised game that some viewed as a potential NBA Finals preview.

“They took a lot of pride,” Nets head coach Steve Nash of his team’s effort on the back end vs. Los Angeles.

“We talked through it, and they responded. The team with the best record was in front of them and they had to put in a good performance. They were really, really competitive tonight. They wanted it and that’s what it’s going to take.”

It’s also going to take a more concentrated and concerted effort against teams that don’t have flashy records, something the Nets can begin displaying Friday night on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

“So I think we’ve got a lot of growth to do at that end of the floor, but I don’t want to make any predictions,” said Nash.

“I want to take the next step and see if we can get a little bit better, and (Friday) we got a little bit better against a really good team, and we’ll watch some film and get better again tomorrow.”

Kevin Durant and the Nets hope to begin stepping up their game against so-called lesser opponents when they host Toronto here in Downtown Brooklyn Friday. AP Photo by Kathy Willens

Nothing But Net: Following the visit by Toronto, the Nets will face another elite team when they travel to Philadelphia on Saturday to take on the conference-leading 76ers (16-6). Brooklyn is currently tied for second place in the East standings with Milwaukee (13-8), 2 1/2 games behind the Sixers. … Durant is second in the NBA in scoring with 30.8 points per contest and also ranks fourth in offensive rating (119.7).