The Nets‘ current four-game road trip is a doozy, to say the least.
It began on Friday night against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center — a team that entered as a bottom-dweller in the Eastern Conference at 2-12. It was playing without its top two stars in Joel Embiid and Paul George.
Assuming any night in the NBA will be an easy one is a fool’s fantasy, but the Nets were the clear favorite. Brooklyn battled through three quarters and had a two-point advantage entering the fourth. Cam Johnson dropped 37 points and knocked down a career-high nine 3-pointers. It was not enough.
Shorthanded Philadelphia outscored the visitors 34-21 in the final frame and turned 19 total Nets turnovers into 28 points. It is hard to win with those kinds of lapses, especially on the road. Brooklyn’s 113-98 loss on Friday was a learning lesson. And it will not get any easier from here.
“I think it’s a mental thing,” Ben Simmons said. “We just have to focus and be consistent with it.”
The Nets left Philadelphia with a 6-10 record. They will face the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, followed by two more road games against the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns before returning to Barclays Center on Friday.
Golden State is currently the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference at 12-4 entering Sunday’s games. Phoenix (9-7) and Sacramento (8-8) are squarely in the playoff hunt. All three teams have a combined win percentage of 60.4.
Brooklyn is 3-1 against Western Conference teams entering Sunday’s game in Sacramento. It defeated the Memphis Grizzlies twice, beat the New Orleans Pelicans once, and lost in overtime against the Denver Nuggets in late October.
“Yeah, it’s a good test for us,” Cam Thomas said. “We have a few good teams in the West coming up, so really we can measure ourselves, see where we’re at… We want to play the best and I’m sure we’ll be ready for it.”
Guards Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain combined for 56 points against the Nets on Friday and made them pay in the open court whenever they turned the ball over, especially in the fourth quarter. Sacramento, Golden State and Phoenix have high-scoring backcourts as well that could wreck a game if left unchecked.
Brooklyn will face De’Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan and Keegan Murray on Sunday, Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Buddy Hield on Monday, then Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal on Wednesday.
If you turn the ball over too often against teams with tough guard play like that, and you are asking for a long night.
“Yeah, we got some good teams coming up, backcourt and some good teams,” Nic Claxton said. “So, we know we have to be better. And if we don’t lock in, we’re going to get beat by more than what we got beat by [Friday].”
