The Brooklyn Nets are off to a dreadful 1-5 start, and the cracks are beginning to show.
On Saturday, head coach Steve Nash tore into his team after an ugly 126-116 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Nash called the Nets’ defensive effort against the Pacers a “disaster,” adding that he didn’t see the “will” or the “desire” from his team against an Indiana squad playing the second half of a back-to-back.
“We have to look deep, deep inside ourselves and what we want to do, what we want to accomplish,” Nash told reporters. “Do we want to give up on this because it’s been too difficult early or do we want to stay the course and start to build something?”
The Nets have struggled mightily to prevent opposing offenses from scoring. After Saturday’s loss to the Pacers, the Nets are 29th in the NBA in points allowed (122.2), 21st in opponents’ field goal percentage, and dead-last in opponents’ 3-point percentage (43.8).
Nash warned that the downward spiral will continue for the Nets if things don’t change quickly.
“We’ve had a lot of really good days here early in the season, and we’ve lost a couple games, and it shook our mentality, shook our mentality hard,” Nash said. “And we’re not seeing the same competitive spirit, same purpose. And if we don’t clean that up, it’s not going to get better.”
Since beginning the season 1-1, Saturday’s loss to the Pacers was the Nets’ fourth-straight defeat.
Brooklyn has given up over 100 points in all six contests this year and 125 or more in four of their five losses.
