Subscribe
Follow Us
The Brooklyn Nets suffered one of their worst losses of the season on Friday night as the Utah Jazz blew them out, 125-102. Kyrie Irving was the lone superstar available for the Nets with both Kevin Durant and James Harden dealing with respective injuries, and true enough, the Jazz made easy work of a shorthanded Brooklyn side.
That's now seven straight losses for the Nets and at this point, to say that they are in the midst of a slump would be an understatement. Irving himself spoke to reporters after the game and he got brutally honest about the dire situation his team is currently stuck in:
“It's really just where we are, facing reality, that we're not winning ballgames right now,” Irving said, via Nick Friedell of ESPN. “And we got to kind of get out of that hole with just one win and then start a new streak from that point. But no time to feel like our season is in doomsday or we need to push the panic button at all points, but we have to face reality that a lot of guys, a lot of my teammates, we're still getting to know one another, how we play, what's our spots, offensive and defensive tendencies.
“And then communication. Knowing that we can get on guys and guys love to be coached. And it's not just from the head coach or the assistants but really just from us as teammates. Trusting that we have the experience to win basketball games.”
Irving acknowledged the Nets' poor form of late but he has made it abundantly clear that they are not panicking at the moment. Brooklyn may have fallen in the standings out East — they sit at the sixth spot in the conference with a 29-23 record as of Saturday afternoon — but Irving remains confident in his team's ability to bounce back.
Kyrie also pointed out how team chemistry still remains to be an issue for the Nets. After all, it's not as if this team has had a ton of opportunities to play as a complete unit. Unfortunately, Irving and his part-time playing status is one of the major reasons behind this lack of fluidity.
Be that as it may, Irving remains adamant that they will be able to figure things out sooner rather than later. The lofty expectations many people have on this star-studded Nets team also has them living under a microscope wherein their issues are at times blown out of proportion. In his mind, Kyrie believes that the most important thing right now is for the squad to stick together:
Article Continues Below“Myself alone, I can't do it,” Irving said. “It's always going to be about the collective unit. And how we feel good about being close as a team and then going out there and playing basketball, which is supposed to be fun. But when you're losing and it's a win-first league and a win-only league and you get judged by wins and statistics and how well you put a streak together … and how consistent you are, then the spot we're in is going to look like it's far worse than what it is.
“But being in this league for as long as I have been for 11 years, I've seen ups and downs, experiences, and we just got to trust that we have the group regardless of who's in or out of the lineup to be able to put a 48-minute game together.”
Kyrie then talked about Brooklyn's title credentials this season. They are still considered to be one of the favorites to go all the way this year, but right now, this team just isn't looking like the title favorites they have been built up to be. Nevertheless, Irving firmly believes that the Nets will be able to step it up when it matters the most:
“Building championship habits takes time,” Irving said. “And time is not necessarily always on our side. I don't know what game this is for me, so I'm still just getting used to being in this flow of everything right now, still being in an observant place. But building championship habits is staying resilient and knowing that there's another level to push to when you're tired and you have all the excuses in the world and you just continue on. You don't hold your head or anything like that.”
Irving continued to talk about his personal struggles and how he has not reached the level he wants to be at. He also discussed how he believes the other members of the team also need to step up to help the squad get out of think funk:
“I don't feel like I'm close to where I want to be personally,” Irving said. “I have mountain-high expectations for myself, but right now I feel like with our personnel, if I'm not shooting well or I'm not playing well or we don't have the same production from guys that we're used to getting it from, it's going to be a tough night. And I don't want that to be kind of the note on our team, that we trap these guys, we get it out of their hands, and we have it in the bag.
“I want all our guys to feel confident, everybody works hard on their game. Everybody has their confidence to be able to make an impact and we just got to keep that forward-facing mentality in that side.”
What cannot be ignored in all of this is how Kyrie himself has played a major role in Brooklyn's stop-and-start season. The fact that Irving is still banned from playing in home games because of his decision to remain unvaccinated is still a very big deal. No matter what he says here, this is a fact that cannot be played down. The Nets can get better all they want, but the bitter truth is that Irving's unavailability half the time still serves an undeniably significant blow to this team's championship aspirations this season.
