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The good news for the Nets is that, day by day over the past week, they have gotten roster reinforcements back from COVID-19 protocols.
The bad news is that the reintegration of those players sometimes looks like Thursday night.
The Nets got big efforts from Kevin Durant and James Harden, but could not overcome some sloppy play in a 110-102 loss to the 76ers.
“We just weren’t as sharp,” coach Steve Nash said after the game. “Sometimes, I think that’s a by-product of incorporating a bunch of new guys and having this COVID stretch where we had so many guys in and out of the lineup. It’s to be expected somewhere along the way.
“Maybe we overachieved the way we played in LA out of the COVID scenario. But [Thursday] it caught up with us. Hopefully this motivates us to get back to our basics and play better.”
The Nets committed 17 turnovers (tied for their fourth-highest mark of the season), 14 of which came in the first half — an indication they may have still been regaining their chemistry with a starting lineup that welcomed back Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge for the first time since they cleared COVID-19 protocols on Tuesday.
“[It was] a little bit of everything,” said James Harden, who was responsible for a team-high six turnovers. “A little carelessness, just decision-making. I had a couple that I wish I could have got back. That’s the game right there. We talked about it in training camp, turnovers and rebounding the basketball, not allowing opposing teams to get so many more shots than us. Tonight was a case of that (100 to 81).”
In their first two games after having three games postponed by COVID-19 depleting their roster, the Nets came out firing with wins over the Lakers and Clippers.
But starting with their rematch against the Clippers on Saturday at Barclays Center, the Nets knew they needed to clean up their performance as they continued to figure out their best lineups and rotations with a healthier roster.
“We were coming out of the break with different guys reemerging, reentering and trying to put together lineups and combinations,” Nash said. “It just didn’t feel good from the start. We were a little sloppy and we never got on top. … Just not a great outing for us, but lots of positives and we’ll keep building as we transition back from our COVID outbreak.”
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