The Nets competed for the first 24 minutes against a solid team, but fell apart down the stretch, falling prey to their own bad tendencies and decisions en route to an embarrassing double-digit loss.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
The Nets played with aggressiveness in the first half, with equal parts smart shots in their offense, hustle for loose balls, and the occasional push on the break. But they just couldn’t do anything to stop the Bulls’ attack in the second half, and struggled to manufacture even easy shots against a Bulls team missing the Defensive Player of the Year.
The Nets were missing two of their best players in Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez, as well as Mirza Teletovic, but the bottom just fell out against the Bulls in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, and the Nets didn’t play with any urgency or finesse, allowing Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose, and Jimmy Butler to have their way inside and out.
An atrocious effort that’s most worrisome in its commonality.
