Lonnie Walker IV was not under any illusions.
He is not tasked with saving the Nets’ season.
His role, rather, is to provide enthusiasm to a frustrated team.
“Energy,” Walker said following shootaround prior to Friday night’s game against the Thunder at Barclays Center.
The Nets entered the day fourth in the Atlantic Division with a 15-20 record, a half-game ahead of last-place Toronto (14-20). Moreover, they are ninth in the Eastern Conference, ahead of Atlanta (14-19), Chicago (15-21) and the aforementioned Raptors.
“We have a lot of great players,” said Walker, who was returning to lineup after a strained left hamstring which cost him 17 games. “It’s a long season, you have your ups and downs, trying to find ways to play the right way. So I think just bringing that energy, trying to really prioritize the defensive side of things and trying to play as hard as I can and as far as scoring and shooting, obviously add that to the team, but just trying to play the right way.”
Walker rejoined a squad desperately in need of anything that can be construed as positive.
Dating back to Dec. 8, the Nets have lost 11 out of their last 15 games, including five straight prior to Friday night.
The nosedive has coincided with an almost unfathomable across-the-board defensive breakdown. On a per-game average, opponents are scoring 16.7 fast-break points; 12.1 second-chance points; 12.1 points off of turnovers; and have made 14.8 three-pointers on 35.1 attempts (42.1%) in their last 15 contests.
Those are, to be charitable, suboptimal numbers. Which prompts a question: How do they correct those flaws?
“We have to talk to each other more and help each other out, and step up for one another,” said Mikal Bridges, when asked what he and his teammates have seen on tape about their defensive play. “One person gets blown by, we’re messing up coverage. We just have to help each other out.”
Especially when factoring in that their defensive breakdowns are concurrent with…
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