Once again, the Brooklyn Nets were almost beat down the stretch on Tuesday against the LA Clippers. Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant acknowledged their team's seeming struggle to close out games.
Per Alex Schiffer of The Athletic, Irving recalled the big shots opposing teams have hit against them in critical moments of the game. Perhaps the most recent one was Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook's back-to-back 3-pointers which led to a Washington Wizards victory.
Kyrie Irving: "So many teams hit shots against us." Feels like the Nets have a streak where teams hit the craziest shots against them. Said Nets need to just finish games.
— Alex Schiffer (@Alex__Schiffer) February 3, 2021
Durant shared a similar observation. The Nets actually held a comfortable 10-point lead with just under two minutes left on Tuesday. But against a tightened Clippers defense and some bad Nets plays, the Tyronn Lue-coached squad was able to trim it to a one-point lead with less than 30 seconds in the game.
Kevin Durant said while the Nets nearly coughed up a 10-point lead in the final two minutes, he thought the defense was improved since Sunday's job loss in DC. Said he thought the Clippers earned every shot they got down the stretch and the effort was better.
— Alex Schiffer (@Alex__Schiffer) February 3, 2021
The Nets have won seven of their last 10 games. Out of these wins, only one (147-125 against the Oklahoma City Thunder) was one by double-digits. The rest were won by an average of just 4.6 points.
They say a win is a win, no matter by how many points. After all, the Nets are in the NBA where upsets occur more often than not. But given the Nets are led by three future Hall-of-Famers, they should be dominating their foes and not giving up big leads in the fourth quarter.
So it's definitely a good sign that Irving and Durant have spotted their glaring weakness as a team. Over the next few games, fans should expect their team to close out games properly.
The Nets will face the Toronto Raptors on Friday.