The Nets looked worse Saturday night than they have since … the last time they played a top team.
There may be a correlation there.
The Nets lost 113-107 to the Suns, who frankly have been white-hot against everybody. But the Nets had their latest failed test in front of a sellout crowd of 18,071 at Barclays Center, the biggest turnout since they moved to Brooklyn. The Nets keep coming up short in these measuring stick games.
“The Suns, I think they’ve won 15 in a row. So just a good basketball team,” DeAndre’ Bembry said before the game. “It’s definitely good for us to go out there and test what we think we have on this side and just trying to get better from the game.”
Make it a league-high 16 straight win for Phoenix, which made short work of the hosts. The Nets never led, trailed by as many as 22, and followed up their best performance of the season — Wednesday in Boston — with their worst outing since getting blasted on Nov. 16 by the Warriors.
Kevin Durant had a game-high 39 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and season-high four steals for the Nets, while James Harden had a triple-double with 12 points, 14 assists and 13 boards. But Harden shot just 4-for-15 — 0-for-6 from 3-point range — and committed seven of the Nets’ 20 turnovers.
The Nets turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter and trailed by 14 heading into the second.
“These are the exciting regular-season games,” coach Steve Nash said before the game. “We hope we get up for all games, but clearly there is a little more in the building with them obviously playing lights-out and us trying to find ourselves and figuring out ways to win games recently. It’s a great measure for us to see where we’re at and to compete against a team that’s outstanding.”
There was not only more electricity in Barclays Center than on most nights, but more fans than had ever crammed into the arena for a Nets game. But in the end, Nash’s team was found wanting.
Nash spent 10 years starring in Phoenix, helping the Suns to winning streaks of 15 and 17 games in 2006-07. Saturday, he could only watch as the Suns cruised to the second-longest run in team history, and turned his current team into a speed bump along the way.
After Nash had focused on the Nets needing to play with better pace, get into their actions early and swing the ball second side, the Suns put on a first-quarter clinic in all of above.
The Suns came out on fire, looking like a machine on both ends.
Durant started off guarding Devin Booker, but the Suns star finished with 30 points, including 12 early to spot Phoenix to a 17-6 lead just 4 ½ minutes in.
Bembry (18 points) was on Chris Paul instead of Booker, who cracked double-figures before Durant even got onto the board.
The Nets trailed by 14 after a sloppy first quarter in which they turned the ball over unsightly eight times. The Suns had an 11-0 edge in points off turnovers, and that was essentially the story of — and difference in — the game.
Playing a Suns team that was on the tail end of a back-to-back — they routed the Knicks on Friday night at the Garden — the Nets couldn’t take advantage of any Phoenix fatigue.
The Nets’ sloppiness on offense helped the Suns shine on offense. The Nets had already had 11 turnovers midway through the second quarter, and Paul’s pull-up 3-pointer put them in a 51-31 hole with 6:40 left in the half.
The Nets clawed within 51-46 on a Bembry steal and dunk in the waning moments of the first half, but the Suns bounced back and took a 56-46 lead into the break.
The Nets fell behind by 20 again, this time 90-70 on a Cam Payne 3-pointer with a minute to go in the third. The Nets fought back again the fourth, when a Harden finger roll got them within 108-101 — but they could edge no closer.
“It’s a good test for our team, see where we’re at during the course of the season,” Paul Millsap said before the game. “You got to always kind of use these games as a gauge to see where you’re at.”
The Nets won’t like the answer they got.