After playing four games in five nights, Don Casey decided to have mercy on the Nets yesterday.
“They’re a very resilient group,” explained the Nets coach after putting his squad through a light workout yesterday in preparation for tonight’s home game with Minnesota.
“I think [Wednesday] night was our first game in a month that we were in a deep deficit,” Casey said in reference to the Nets’ 119-103 loss at Charlotte.
I think from the night before [Tuesday vs. Toronto] we were a bit weary and didn’t play that well. It’s a concern because if you are physically tired, then you’ll be mentally tired. Today was more relaxed. We brought in everyone to keep them together and had kind of a shootaround. We had the trainers take a look at them just to take the necessary precautions.”
During their roller-coaster season in which they are pushing to make the playoffs, the Nets are trying to stay loose. But understand they know they must play with some urgency tonight after that ugly loss in Charlotte. With a 29-38 record, they are three games behind eighth-place Orlando with 15 games to play.
“Every game we play we have to go out and win,” said Stephon Marbury. “We can’t afford to lose any more games. We really can’t afford to go out and have games like [Wednesday] night.
“We were due for a butt-whippin’,” joked Marbury, “but we took that game in stride. The most important thing is how we rebound from that game to this game. I don’t think that it is going to cause us to play bad or go back into some old habits. The loss was something that was bound to happen, but I don’t think that it killed any momentum.”
Johnny Newman, the 14-year veteran, sees the obstacles that lie ahead. “As a team that went through what we went through [the awful 2-15 start], we understand that it isn’t going to be easy the rest of the way,” he said. “We have to step up to the plate because that is the kind of character we are developing here.”
Forward Kendall Gill said this is no time to fall apart. “We haven’t lost like that since I can remember,” he said. “We have to shake it off and play the way we have been playing because we don’t want to start a trend of losing.
“We can’t afford to lose games we’re supposed to win. We have to get back on our track. We got derailed a little bit. We have to get over it and look at it like a speed bump in the road.”
The Timberwolves (41-26) are the next roadblocks for the Nets. In their first meeting on Feb. 20, the Nets prevailed in a shocking 91-89 victory in a nationally televised game that marked the emotional return of Marbury to Minneapolis.
Marbury celebrated his 23rd birthday by silencing all of the boos and taunts, torching the Timberwolves for 39 points.
Marbury’s close friend, Kevin Garnett, was terrible in that game, shooting 9-for-33 and finishing with 27 points. Marbury thinks he will be out for revenge tonight.
“He had an off game,” said Marbury, “but there is no stopping him. We have to just try and contain him. I am sure that he wants to win.”
After tonight, the Nets stay home to face Denver on Sunday.
Next week they have home games with the Pacers on Tuesday and the Raptors on Thursday.