SAN FRANCISCO — While the Nets spent the entire offseason and preseason managing expectations, their play has been raising them.
This Western swing — which continued Saturday night at Golden State — could go a long way toward showing which was right.
Though Mikal Bridges was looking forward to this five-game swing beforehand, he set a limbo-low bar in just trying to avoid getting swept.
“Go out there, play hard and win games man. It’s gonna be tough, but I know we’re ready for it,” Bridges had said. “I’m excited. I like playing on the road, I think we all do. So, go out there, get some wins, you know?
“For me just don’t come back less than .500, that’s how I feel. Obviously, I want to win every single game, but that’s just a mindset. … If you lose some, it’ll definitely be some tough, fighting games, but just don’t come back under .500.”
They’ve already guaranteed avoiding that. But then again, that wasn’t asking much.
Considering the Nets had been 12-9 before leaving Brooklyn — having won six of their prior seven — that meant just avoiding a sweep in a grueling gauntlet that included tilts at Sacramento, Phoenix, Denver and Saturday night at the Warriors.
After playing three straight road games at the past three Western Conference champions — the Nuggets and Warriors also winning the past two NBA titles — the trip concludes Monday at Utah.
“I mean, obviously we played two of the best teams in the league back-to-back. That’s always going to be tough,” Spencer Dinwiddie had said. “And then you mentioned the altitude. I feel like we came in with the right intention, just didn’t execute, had too many turnovers, and they shot the ball really extremely well as well.”
After a disappointing start against the Kings, the Nets bounced back with an impressive victory over their former superstar Kevin Durant and the debut of his new Big 3 in Phoenix.
That ensured the Nets wouldn’t come home under .500.
Brooklyn predictably ran out of gas in mile-high Denver on the second night of a back-to-back.
Opponents are a horrid 8-28 playing at Ball Arena on short rest since 2018-19 according to Elias Sports Bureau, so falling to two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the reigning champions was hardly a shock.
“I mean, if you look at the schedule obviously this would probably be a scheduling loss, right?” Dinwiddie said. “So for all intents and purposes, we’re kind of 1-1 on the trip right now, and we go into Golden State and Utah and try to get two wins.”
The games against Golden State and Utah offered a golden opportunity to turn this trip from mere survival to actual success.
The Nets didn’t have to deal with Draymond Green on Saturday, suspended indefinitely for hitting Suns big man Jusuf Nurkic.
They faced a Warriors team that had just been swept three straight on the road, and the Nets head to Salt Lake City with a shot at a successful Western swing.
“In terms of Sacramento and Phoenix, no excuses obviously. We get paid to do this, we have to take care of our bodies,” Dinwiddie said. “In terms of the Denver back-to-back at altitude, there’s no way to prepare for that because obviously we play in New York. So it’s tough.
“But we have to make the best of it. So like I said, in regards to how you think about this trip, you would feel that this would probably be a scheduling loss and that we’re 1-1, and if we close out 3-2 with this one being one of the ones we dropped, then it’s probably a pretty successful trip.”
Read more
