The Nets’ performance was disastrous on both ends of the floor against the Knicks on Wednesday, putting a negative exclamation point on what has been a terrible two-way slump back into tank mode after a brief surge in December.
Over the last thirteen games, the Nets have posted the worst collective net rating – a statistic that measures a team’s point differential per 100 possessions – in the NBA at -13.0.
That metric equates to a league-leading No. 29 defensive rating of 122.2 points allowed per 100 possessions — better than just the Jazz — compared to a No. 28 offensive rating of 109.1 points scored per 100 possessions.
Brooklyn is tied with the league’s worst Pelicans for the most losses over the past 13 games, 11 of which came in Friday’s home game against the Celtics.
The horrific 120-66 defeat at the Garden was rightly deemed “unacceptable” by Nets forward Noah Clowney, and head coach Jordi Fernández took the brunt of the blame for the worst performance by any team in the NBA this season.
The Nets were dominated on the glass – 56-27 overall and 8-4 in offensive rebounds – and shot just 27.5 percent (11-for-40) from 3-point range, compared to 50.0 percent (16-for-32) for the Knicks.
“I have to help them better. In the last twelve games we were bad defensively and bad offensively and that’s on me,” Fernández said. “You see 20 points in the paint, so that means you’re probably not aggressive enough. You see zero second-chance points, we have rules for getting those boards. … Zero, it’s really hard to do.”
“The percentages are the percentages, sometimes shots go in or they don’t, but you have to give them credit. They were the most physical team, they were the best team out there and we just have to learn from it and move on and like I said, I still have a lot to figure out.”
Fernández believed his team “played at an acceptable level” in Monday’s nine-point home loss to the Suns, but they have mostly failed to repeat the team’s promising 7-3 run in December, which included impressive wins against Toronto, Philadelphia and Minnesota.
“Consistent…it’s more on a consistent basis for me,” Fernández added. “I have a great group of coaches who will help me and give me great ideas.
“I have a group of guys that show up and work and have positive energy, so I believe in the players. I believe in the coaches and it doesn’t stop the plan that we have. It’s obviously a tough experience to go through, but we’ll be better. Me, the first one… It was my fault. I didn’t prepare them to compete at the highest level.”
Rookie Drake Powell said he disagreed “100 percent” and countered that such poor performances are “eventually the order of the day.” [the players].”
Clowney added that the team did not execute Fernández’s intended game plan and called the performance “as bad as it gets.”
“I mean, we just have to do better,” Clowney said. “I’m not going to get into the politics of what I think about this or that. As far as coaching goes, for me, I felt like the little things that we said we wanted to do, we didn’t do.”
“We didn’t do it offensively. And defensively we were disastrous; we didn’t come back for the [most] part, they let us down [from] 3, and had everything they wanted.”
Jayson Tatum (torn Achilles tendon) and Josh Minott (ankle) remain out for Boston. Rookie guard Ben Saraf remains on a G-League assignment for the Nets.
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