Nets coach Jacque Vaughn wants to prevent his team from wilting entering the half after they suffered their second straight collapse before intermission Sunday. AP Photo by Adam Hunger
While the Nets have been shorthanded due to injury during the season’s first month, Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn is more interested in how short they’ve been coming up before halftime.
Especially in their last two losses.
“Teams are doing different things to us at the end of quarters to disrupt (us), so you have to have a poise about you,” Vaughn admitted Sunday after Philadelphia went on a 23-7 run before intermission en route to a 121-99 win over the Nets in front of 17,934 fans at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
“We’re still searching for that,” Vaughn added. “We’ll continue to work on that and get better, but you see how those momentum plays make a difference, especially at the end of quarters.”
The 76ers put together a 15-0 spurt in just over three minutes during the second quarter to blow past Brooklyn (6-7) for good.
It was the same story in Miami last Thursday night, when the Nets were seeking their season high-tying third consecutive win.
Up by six points against the NBA’s hottest team, Brooklyn went into the tank just before the break, watching the sizzling Heat pull away for good with a 14-0 run into halftime.
“There’s momentum, I think, shifts that happen throughout the course of the game,” Vaughn noted after watching Miami breeze to its seventh straight win. “You don’t want those at the end of the quarter, especially going into halftime.”
The Nets also don’t want to continue playing shorthanded.
On Sunday, starters Cam Thomas (ankle) and Ben Simmons (back) and reserve guard Dennis Smith Jr. (back) were missing in action as Brooklyn had to rely on Lonnie Walker IV’s season-high 26 points just to remain within striking distance of the Sixers.
Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton combined to go 13-of-18 from the field for 28…
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