After getting humiliated defensively in their two previous preseason games, the Nets challenged themselves to put up more of a fight.
They did Thursday. And though it wasn’t enough to keep them from blowing a game late — losing 100-97 to the Celtics at Barclays Center — it was enough to buoy their sagging confidence.
“We definitely took a step forward in terms of defensive effort, in terms of urgency in terms of desperation,’’ said Jeremy Lin, who saw his team cough up the final six points to blow what seemed like a sure win. “I thought we played hard. That’s where it has to start for us. To be the hardest playing team, and from there we have a chance to win. That has to be our identity, has to be our everything.”
The Nets (1-3) played hard Thursday after barely playing at all two days earlier in Miami. After winning their preseason opener, they have dropped three straight — but at least in this one they didn’t roll over, or stay down when they got hit.
For a rebuilding team predicted to be the NBA’s worst, that’s something.
“I know on paper everyone doesn’t have great expectations for us. That’s fine. … We all know we’re NBA players. We know we’re capable of competing at this level,’’ said Lin, who had 12 points, seven assists and two steals.
“I’ve never had any fear that our team can compete with these good teams. … We have a much, much smaller margin of error. But from a talent standpoint, do I think our ceiling one day we can be a really good team? Yeah, I believe that.”
Frankly, after going 21-61 last year, even being a competitive team would be nice. And they did compete, getting double-doubles from power forward platoon Trevor Booker (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Luis Scola (team-high 14 points, 11 boards, five assists). They even led 97-94 on Greivis Vasquez’s jumper with 1:26 left.
But after Sean Kilpatrick (just 1-of-7 from the floor) missed a driving layup with less than a minute to play, Jaylen Brown’s free throws with 48.7 seconds remaining cut their lead to one. And after Vasquez missed a long jumper, Jordan Mickey’s fast-break dunk the other way put Boston ahead for good with just 34.5 seconds left.
“We obviously could’ve gotten better shots at the end of the game,’’ coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Then we lapsed in defensive transition … which I thought was a little disappointing.”
Scola missed a potential go-ahead jumper with 10.9 seconds on the clock, and Brown iced it on the line.
“Coach wanted a 2-for-1, so I went a little bit quick. I hesitated [on the jumper]. I should’ve went by him,’’ Vasquez said. “That’s what I do in my career: I don’t score [much], but I like to take big shots. It didn’t work out for me, so I take responsibility. But I thought overall we played good basketball.”
After back-to-back road losses to the Knicks and Heat in which they coughed up an average of 118.5 points on .517 shooting, the Nets held Boston to just .417 from the floor.
“We were concerned. We got into each other,” Vasquez said. “This is not going to be pretty for us. We’ve got to be able to hit somebody first, two times, three times. We have to be the aggressor. I thought we were aggressive. We were the aggressor, even though they won.
“We came out with a different force. I like our team. If we continue to put something together, work the way we’re working, we’re going to surprise a lot of people. It’s going to be hard. But we’ve got good players. Believe it or not, we do have good players.”