Milwaukee ? Six days into the New Year, and already Jason Kidd believes the Nets are running out of time. Richard Jefferson thinks the Nets are playing soft.
Bad timing and lack of toughness have been a problem for the Nets all season, and both were front and center Wednesday night against the Bucks.
For the second straight night, the Nets’ defense failed them. And for the second straight night they were handed a lopsided defeat. Milwaukee handed the Nets a humbling 97-74 loss at the Bradley Center.
“We’re not very tough right now,” Jefferson said. “From the top on down, we’re not very tough. We’re way too cool. We’re not consistent.”
It wasn’t the three-point barrage that Washington buried the Nets with in Tuesday’s 112-88 loss. But the Bucks (10-19), one of only five Eastern Conference teams with a worse record than the Nets (11-20), shot 35-for-68 (54 percent) in the game.
“Our defense is bad right now,” Kidd said. “This is something new to me. We just have to stay together and find a way to make stops. We’ve got to work through it.”
A disgusted Lawrence Frank sat his big three of Kidd, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter with 6:07 left in the game, and the Nets down, 90-67.
Things already were going bad for the Nets when Jefferson suffered an embarrassing moment.
The Nets were down 17 in the fourth, and Jefferson tried a double-pump, over-the-head dunk. But he missed with 9:05 to go. And then after he corralled the rebound, Jefferson was called for an offensive foul. Frank looked on incredulously.
Naturally, everyone expected the Nets to go through an adjustment period after they acquired Carter. The Nets are trying to work in a starter and go-to-guy on the fly. But Kidd said the Nets can’t wait much longer to get used to playing together. They’re 7-8 with him back from knee surgery and 2-4 with Carter in the lineup.
“We got to do that now,” Kidd said. “We don’t have any time. We can’t dig ourselves a hole here. We’ve already put ourselves in a deficit. So we have to try and get out of this mini-hole and try and climb up and put some wins together before we run out of time.”
The Nets were led by backup center Jabari Smith’s career-high 19 points. Jefferson finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Carter had 15 points and Kidd 12.
The Nets may have survived a mini-scare early in the third quarter. Carter dived on the floor to get a loose ball, and came up clutching his left Achilles. It’s the same Achilles that kept Carter out for three weeks this season.
Carter immediately asked for out of the game with 10:59 left in the period, but returned 46 seconds later. And he wasted no time — the Nets’ next possession — to put up a shot.
Backup guard Mike James and Joe Smith each scored 17 to pace the Bucks. Desmond Mason added 16.
Leading 74-63 to start the fourth, the Bucks made their first three shots, and scored on their first five possessions. Milwaukee led 84-65 after a pair of Marcus Fizer free throws with 9:47 left in the game.
After a Jason Collins layup, the Bucks scored six unanswered to go ahead by 23. That’s when Frank called timeout and pulled his big three.
Smith did his best in the first half to show that the Nets may not have to look too far for a productive big man. The backup center helped keep the Nets in the game, scoring 12 points in 18 minutes.
The Nets needed Smith’s contributions, particularly after allowing a 12-0 second-quarter run that gave the Bucks a 38-23 lead.
“It’s a joke right now,” Jefferson said of the Nets’ play. “This is unacceptable. It’s not like we’re a 500 team and if we go on an eight-game winning streak we’re eight games above. An eight game winning streak and we’re still, what, two games under .500. We’re running out of time.”
