ATLANTA — The Nets have gone from suffering beatings to suffering heartbreakers.
From getting blown out to blowing late leads.
The Nets led almost all night here except when it mattered most, at the end. They committed a 124-121 collapse before a crowd of 16,117 at State Farm Arena on Saturday.
After looking in terrible disarray while dropping their first five games, the Nets (2-7) have split the past four. But those two defeats will stick in their collective craw.
They blew a fourth-quarter lead in the Garden to the reigning champion Knicks. And Saturday, they squandered a 17-point cushion and had a 114-110 edge with 1:45 to play before allowing 10 unanswered points that cost them the game.
“We were not consistent enough to do the right things. And it’s not about making shots, it’s about trying to do the right things. Obviously, the points off turnovers, this is a team that will pressure you, and we had 22 turnovers for 28 points. That’s not acceptable. That’s where you lose the game,” Nets coach Jordi Fernández said.
“Our effort was not great. We didn’t do a lot of things. We didn’t pay attention to details. Offensively, a lot of random stuff. So I guess we were just not really focused anymore,” Nolan Traore said.
“We had great looks in the first half, but in the second half, we played more random stuff, so we didn’t have the same quality shots. So that might be the main thing. I don’t think Atlanta did something that disturbed us, it was more just us doing random stuff.”
There was a lot to unpack in this one.
Jalen Johnson poured in a game-high 30 points for the Hawks, who stormed back. But it was the Nets’ own mistakes that let them.
Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 25 points and nine rebounds, while Day’Ron Sharpe had a triple-double (12 points, 13 assists, 10 boards).
Young point guards Traore and Mikel Brown Jr. both played well. The former had 19 points, four steals and finished a team-best plus-9, but the problem was when he finished. He had nine points in the first quarter, but never got off the bench in the fourth.
Brown scored 13 of his 18 points in the final period, but was a minus-10.
“Mikel had those five straight points, and I just let him roll because you cannot just keep taking them in and out,” Fernández said when asked why he sat Traore. “When I was about to sub Nolan in, Mikel made two or three 3s and a midrange pullup. So I thought that was the right thing to do. Was it right? I don’t know.”
Fernández said the fact Brown was already slated to sit out Sunday’s game in Dallas had nothing to do with the decision. He was just riding the hot hand.
Traore stormed out of the blocks with seven quick points to spot the Nets a 12-2 lead. And the bench helped pad it to 31-14 when Brown found Noah Clowney for a 3 with 3:57 left in the first quarter.
But shaky rebounding let the Hawks get on the offensive glass and cut that to 70-66 by the break.
It was still four at 114-110 after a Brown 3.
But that’s when they allowed a 10-0 run to blow it.
Sharpe’s turnover handed Onyeka Okongwu a 3, and after he missed a drive, Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s free throw with 1:26 left put Atlanta up for good at 115-114.
When Porter missed a 3-pointer, Alexander-Walker raced for a loose ball and a breakaway layup. Both Sharpe and Julius Randle failed to corral rebounds and let the Hawks get second chances they cashed in on.
Johnson’s and-one capped the 10-0 run with 38 seconds left and essentially ended it.
“They just started hitting shots down the stretch,” Brown said. “Offensive rebounds, they were killing us all game. That was really the problem.”