There’s a saying about leaving well enough alone: Don’t poke the bear.
Golden State didn’t just poke the NBA’s biggest bear, the Warriors slapped it in the face and left the Nets standing there like a hot lunch.
We saw how that worked out for Leonardo DiCaprio in his lighthearted little movie “The Revenant,” and it could look about that ugly for the Nets on Wednesday. They would have had a tough enough time with Cleveland and LeBron James, but the East-leading Cavaliers come to Barclays Center seething after a 132-98 loss to the Warriors on Monday, and the Nets are the team likely to pay for it.
“They came in and gave us a good old fashioned A-kicking. There’s nothing more you can say to it,’’ James admitted afterward. “We’ve got to get back to the basics. There are a lot of things we need to do better in order for us to play better basketball down the stretch.’’
Point guard Kyrie Irving agreed, saying the Warriors reminded them of a valuable lesson. It’s probably one the Nets wish had stayed forgotten.
“They came in with a chip on their shoulder, something to prove,” said the St. Patrick of Elizabeth (N.J.) product. … They came in here and just kicked our [butts].’’
Rest assured the Cavaliers will be focused on doing the same to the Nets on Wednesday.
“We never gave ourselves a chance to win that game and that’s unfortunate and tough, and we have to live with that. We have to face up to that and use that as a new starting point to improve ourselves,’’ Cavs coach David Blatt said.
“You’ve got to fail quickly in this league, because games are coming at you fast,’’ Kevin Love said. “We have another game Wednesday.”
Brooklyn comes into Wednesday with its own issues.
Though new coach Tony Brown’s up-tempo style and positive reinforcement appear to be helping, the Nets have lost eight of nine games since Jarrett Jack went down with a torn ACL, and their defense has allowed 110.4 per game points under Brown. They have struggled to guard top-tier point guards like Irving, and that was without having to deal with James.
“As a cohesive group we all have to keep trying to do the right things on the floor, whether it’s going well for us or bad,’’ Brown said. “The overall message to the entire team is we’ve got to continue to fight, even when we have adversities in games. We have to stay with it, and not give in as much defensively as much.
“A lot of times we see guys rolling down the lane, and it might be an opportunity to take a foul and make a guy earn it from the line. In those situations I’d like to see us be a little bit more aggressive with that, not give up easy opportunities.”
Donald Sloan has wrested the point-guard job away from Shane Larkin, and replaced Jack’s playmaking if not his shooting. But the Nets’ point guards have been torched on defense over their last three games by Portland’s Damian Lillard (33 points), Atlanta’s Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroeder (combined for 27 points and 17 assists) and Toronto’s Kyle Lowry (30 points, 10-of-13 shooting).
Next up is Irving. As if a vexed King James wasn’t enough.
“We know it’s [all] five’s job to handle them,’’ Brook Lopez said. “We’ve got to do a better job in pick-and-rolls to handle them, being there on the weak side, stunting, all sorts of things.’’