SALT LAKE CITY – The bus ride to practice for the Nets was as cheerful and uplifting as a week with the in-laws.
“It was like we were about to get disciplined,” Keith Van Horn said.
What they got was a hard, physical practice as they sought to reclaim the enthusiasm so evident Friday before they played the Knicks. For that game, the Nets were atop an emotional Everest. They’ve plunged. First against Philadelphia, then against Denver Monday.
They enter tonight’s game with Utah at 7-3, a record they would have sold assorted internal organs to own before the season began but a record that now disappoints.
They were 7-1 after the Knick game so coach Byron Scott admits he is “a little worried” this five-game trip that began in Denver could become a disaster with the Clippers, Kings and Warriors waiting behind the Jazz, a disaster especially if recent effort continues.
“From watching guys the last two games, it felt like we proved something against New York and then we took a big sigh of relief,” said Scott, who sat three fifths of his starting lineup for the fourth quarter and overtime in Denver – Kerry Kittles played the last :06.4 of the 99-96 OT defeat. “We haven’t proven anything to anybody.
“The last two games were very lackadaisical,” Scott said. “[What] I was really upset about was our approach to the [Denver] game. It was bad.”
The Nets wasted a furious comeback in Denver as a three-sub lineup, along with Jason Kidd (2-of-14 shooting) and Kenyon Martin (career-high 28 points) carried the Nets into overtime but there was too much sludge to wash away from a dismal start and the they suffered a second straight defeat.
“It seemed like the game was going in slow motion,” Martin said of the start.
Scott stressed he is sticking with his starters: hey, they are 7-3. “If we were 3-7 then there would be a whole bunch of changes, probably starting with me,” he said. But he has made it painfully clear he will ride hot hands and not spend time waiting for guys to play.
“This is not a popularity contest. We want to win,” said Scott, who sat Van Horn, Kittles and Todd MacCulloch down the stretch in Denver.
“The wins we’ve had have come with a lot of energy so we’ve got to plug in and find that energy,” Kidd said. “Friday’s [Knicks] game was huge for us but we’ve got to learn how to keep our emotions at a level where we can respond the next night.”
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Kidd stayed after practice for extra shooting. He is 2-of-23 over the last two games.
“I had great looks but I’m not finishing and that’s why they were short,” Kidd said. “Somewhere in my career I have [gone through this] and I’m going through it now,” said Kidd, now shooting .310 (39-of-126).