Brooklyn Nets re-emerge as title contenders; enjoy basketball again
The Brooklyn Nets rallied past the Washington Wizards on Monday (112-100) and continued their impressive run.
Kyrie Irving had 24 points as the Nets extended their winning streak to four games. The Wizards, on the other hand, have lost seven straight and nine of their last 10.
The Nets were the talk of the NBA earlier in the season due to turmoil that included the firing of head coach Steve Nash and Irving's eight-game suspension for tweeting a link to an anti-Semitic documentary.
Fast forward to today, the Nets are coming together under new head coach Jacque Vaughn and have won eight of their last nine (17-12).
''Man, let's just go win ballgames. That's it, that's really what the attitude is,'' Irving said on Monday. ''We know the talent we have. This is our group. No more excuses, no more distractions.''
Jacque Vaughn the key to Brooklyn Nets' transformation
The Nets, who defeated the Indiana Pacers on the road on Saturday despite missing their best players, matched their season-best with their fourth consecutive victory.
“Jacque’s made it very clear that if you’re not playing hard enough, he’s going to let you know about it,” Kyrie Irving noted.
Since taking over the Nets, Jacque Vaughn has won 15 of his 21 games (15-6 record), and the franchise is fourth in the East standings.
“I think we’ve committed ourselves to playing for and with each other, and that started on the defensive end of the floor,” he said pregame, via Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “We just asked the guys to play hard. At the end of the day, you can cover up a lot of things by just playing hard. So we’ve taken that approach for most nights.”
Kevin Durant, who is averaging 30 points per game on 55.6% shooting and is a prime candidate to become the NBA scoring champion, scored a game-high 30 points (11/17 shooting) vs. the Wizards.
Durant is enjoying the basketball the Nets are playing at the moment, but noted that the seven-game home stand has helped the Nets' recent strong run.
“That’s the type of team you want to be on,” KD said of the Nets, who have won eight of their last nine and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. "Regardless of what’s going on around you, everybody is staying focused and staying to the mission. We're building something. We've got to keep fine-tuning. For the most part, I like the brand of basketball we played on both ends of the court. Regardless of who was on the floor, we still played our system."
Meanwhile, coach Vaughn noted:
"I thought you saw our guys look extremely fresh. We had a lot of juice to start the game, and plenty to finish.''
On Monday, the Nets led by double digits for much of the second half, holding the Wizards to just 45 points and conceding only 100 points.
The Brooklyn Nets will now get more rest and will not play until Friday, when they travel to Toronto to play the Raptors.
For the first time this season, the Brooklyn Nets have been solid and consistent on both ends and have the momentum on their side, climbing to fourth in the standings, four games behind the Boston Celtics (21-8).
