PHILADELPHIA — The Nets have overcome some of their shaky shooting this preseason by being crisp and diligent.
Wednesday happens when their effort and ball handling takes a night off.
The Nets suffered a 117-95 preseason loss to Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center, and new manager Jordi Fernandez was disappointed that the performance wasn't good enough across the board.
They faced a Philadelphia team playing without All-Stars Joel Embiid and Paul George.
And the Nets led the preseason in fast break points and were third in assist-to-turnover ratio, thanks to unselfish ball movement.
But that was when Ben Simmons played with Dennis Schroder.
With Simmons out (scheduled day off to manage his recovery from surgery), Schroder was shouldered with all playmaking duties, with just 4 assists and 9 of the Nets' 20 turnovers and 5 turnovers. Scored and turned out to be missing.
“We weren't strong on the ball, we didn't move the ball, it's that simple. We didn't do what we were supposed to do,” Noah Clowney said. “When we turned the ball over, the ball leaked and the ball fell into the bucket. But I'm not going to blame us for missing out. We've got to do better with the group we got. No.”
To make matters worse, they couldn't get back in transition and watched the 76ers turn those mistakes into 31 points.
A team starved for talent doesn't have that luxury once the season begins.
“We went from having two point guards to one, and it showed in our ball handling. But the reality is Dennis, our true point guard, had five turnovers,” Fernandez said. spoke. “We can't afford him to play like this because he's a really good playmaker, he's a floor general, he's doing the right things, so he's got to get better.
“Obviously adding another point guard is going to help us, but the reality is that 31 points with 20 turnovers is unacceptable. Even when the turnovers happen, you have to keep playing. We still have to stop. And obviously in the second half, I feel like we didn't play as hard as we did in the first two games. And that's what I told the players. I mean we have higher standards for how we play and how we compete. And that's certainly not the performance we want.”
Cam Thomas scored a team-high 17 points, but was inefficient on 2-of-8 shooting from deep and was robbed of playmaking.
Cam Johnson tried to fill Simmons' role in facilitating exits from the high post and elbows, scoring 11 points and dishing out a team-high six assists.
But with Killian Hayes yet to play this preseason, the need for a backup point guard was painfully obvious.
Shake Milton came off the bench and scored 13 points, but was a two-guard and only had three assists.
The Nets played without starting center Nick Claxton and backup Dayron Sharpe.
Brooklyn trailed 21-6 early and fell behind 28-16 after making just 2 of 12 shots during the dry spell.
The Nets' lead grew to 40-25 before they found their footing. They responded by scoring 11 unanswered points and getting within four points.
However, they were physically beaten.
Clowney, a lanky second-year pro, started at center with Claxton, Sharpe and Simmons all out, and was not only powered over by a bruised Andre Drummond on one play, but also knocked him to the floor. , provoked with a “too small” gesture.
“Our ball pressure wasn't good enough. We took a lot of shocks. We weren't backwards about exposing the bodies,” Fernandez said. “We have to be accountable to our standards.”
