The Brooklyn Nets showed up to Barclays Center last night ready to lose yet another game. They didn’t deserve to win the game. Nets fell to Utah Jazz 92-90 in a game that shouldn’t have been close at all. Nets blew a 13 point half time lead and were held to just 33 points in the second half. As the final buzzer sounded after Wallace and Evans missed their 3 pointers, the Nets showed little dissatisfaction of losing this game. After the half time the Nets mailed it in last night. The Nets ran off 12 straight points midway through the second quarter, extending a one-point lead to 45-32 on a jumper by Lopez with 5:08 remaining. The Nets led 57-44 at the half when Wallace made a 3-poiner with 1.4 seconds left. The Jazz scored on their first three third-quarter possessions, trimming a 13-point deficit to seven, immediately putting pressure back on the Nets. The Jazz grabbed eight third-quarter offensive rebounds and the Nets committed seven of their 14 turnovers in the third quarter. After the loss, Nets fell to a miserable 2 – 7 in the month of December. The team that was supposed to be the best team in NYC and got off to an 11-4 start to the season is now barely in the playoff contention in the East and barely over .500 for the season. They resemble the New Jersey Nets of last year than they do an elite NBA team. Isn’t spending $330 million over the summer supposed to make you a better team? Don’t the fans that pay hundreds of dollars to go see the Nets play deserve a better team? So what exactly is wrong with this team?

Is Avery to blame for the Nets dismal play this month? Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Nets’ struggles can be pointed to a combination of few things: botched offense, lackluster defense, blown leads, and playing down to their competition. Coach Johnson is a brilliant defensive coach, but at times we have seen his teams struggle on the offensive end. The All-Star backcourt of Brooklyn hasn’t put together a good game yet; the same backcourt that has combined for 9 All-Star appearances. The offense isn’t flowing as it should; the pick and rolls aren’t being run as efficiently as they should be. Avery needs to figure out consistent situational rotations for this team. His trial and error style of rotations are causing the offensive flow to be non-existent. There is no doubt that the offensive flow will improve as the season goes along, but it’s the coach’s job to make adjustments to help speed up the improvement. The next issue for this team, lackluster defense, usually happens when they have a big lead and the players let their guards down. An elite team plays at its 100% from tip off to the final buzzer. The Nets simply haven’t done that this season. Even in their big wins, there have been stretches when the Nets just mail it in on the defensive side of the floor. As a coach, Avery needs to have a better grasp of this team’s personality. He should be able to press the team’s buttons at the right moments during the game that is what good coaches do. I am not saying all the blame for this team’s poor play falls on the coach either. The players need to show accountability, and heart. I do think that the players on this team, predominantly veterans, understand the importance of every aspect of the game. It might just be a matter of getting their s**t together, but this team needs to do so quickly. This kind of play might have been accepted as the New Jersey Nets, but it won’t be as the Brooklyn Nets. Tonight they get the chance for redemption against the Manhattan Knicks. It’s a must win game for the Nets yet again.

The Nets play their first ever Christmas Day game at Barclays Center next week as the rivalry between the Nets and the Celtics gets heated. Buy your VIP tickets today to the Nets vs Celtics game at http://netscourtside.bigcartel.com/.

Photograph: Jim Davis/AP

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