So after going on a nice little run in mid-January, the Nets are struggling again, starting off games poorly, coming out of halftime poorly, just playing poorly in general.
“Everybody’s got to come out with the same mentality (of) ‘We’re not going to get off to a slow start,’’’ Morrow said. “Whether it’s talking, whether it’s — anything — not letting them get any fast breaks, a hard foul, whatever it is, we’ve got to make sure as a team, we do something. It can’t be one or two people. It’s got to be five guys up here, and then the second group comes in with the same intensity.’’
Colin Stephenson reports that a tweak to the starting lineup may be coming up for Wednesday’s game against NOLA:
Johnson hinted Sunday he may tweak his starting lineup to try to get the team off to faster starts. He already made one change Friday, when he re-inserted Morrow to the lineup after bringing him off the bench for his first eight games back from a 17-game absence due to a strained hamstring.
Sunday, Johnson said the team played better in the third quarter after Quinton Ross came into the game in that quarter. That could mean the 6-6 Ross (averaging 1.4 points in 9:28 per game) might step in for 6-9 Travis Outlaw (9.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .383 field goal shooting) in the starting five.
I don’t know how much Ross will help, but Avery seems to recognize that Travis Outlaw can’t drag down the starting line-up every night (leave him to drag down the bench).
