The Brooklyn Nets came up just short in back-to-back road losses to two of the best teams in the NBA.
First they fell 108-104 in overtime on Friday against defending champion Boston. They then had undefeated Cleveland on the ropes Saturday before the Cavaliers outscored them 35-18 in the fourth quarter to win 105-100.
Brooklyn will next take a crack at the reeling Pelicans on Monday night in New Orleans.
“It’s how you open the game and how you finish the game,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said after Saturday’s loss. “We’ve got to be better. I have to be better with giving those guys breaks so they feel fresh at the end.”
Fernandez said he regretted playing point guard Dennis Schroder the entire fourth quarter against Cleveland.
“I didn’t give him a break,” Fernandez said. “That’s how your execution goes down; that’s how your defense goes down. At the end we paid for it. So I have to be better with my subs, being cleaner with the calls at the end, and we have to execute and hit the shots.”
Brooklyn trailed by 15 points midway through the second quarter before going on a 30-5 run that stretched into the third quarter. The Nets led by seven with 4:09 to play before committing three costly turnovers as the Cavaliers went on a 10-0 run.
Overall, Brooklyn turned the ball over 20 times, which led to 26 Cleveland points.
“We have to stick with it, and we have to keep chasing that goal and not dropping our heads,” said forward Cameron Johnson, who scored 23 points.
The Pelicans are trying not to drop their heads amid a four-game losing streak that is part of a 1-7 stretch. They are coming off Friday night’s 115-88 defeat at Orlando, which had lost its last five games.
New Orleans never led in the game, fell behind 37-23 after the first quarter and got outscored 74-30 in the paint.
“We’re not in a position where we can afford to get off to starts like that and then recover,” coach Willie Green said. “I feel like the guys are trying, but we have to be a team that at some point decides that we don’t want to get pushed around.”
Leading scorer Brandon Ingram was the only one of the team’s top seven players who was healthy for the game. Zion Williamson missed Friday’s game, and the Pelicans announced Saturday that the two-time All-Star (left hamstring strain) will be out indefinitely.
However, forward Trey Murphy III is expected to return Monday after missing the first 10 games due to a right hamstring strain. He is listed as probable.
“We’re going to be OK,” Green said, “but we’re just going through a tough stretch right now. We knew that this is going to be tough and we’ll stay together and continue to work at it and eventually we’ll be healthy and see what we look like.”
Guards Jose Alvarado and Brandon Boston Jr. have assumed much of the scoring load alongside Ingram. Alvarado has started the last six games and averaged 17.2 points and 5.7 assists in his increased role. Boston has averaged 20.0 points and 4.0 assists while starting the last three games.
“He’s a bright spot when you think of all the things that are going on with our team right now,” Green said of Boston.