MEMPHIS — The Nets’ skid has gone from horrid to historic.
Jacque Vaughn or Kevin Ollie, it hasn’t mattered one whit. The results are the same — ugly. As in all-time ugly.
The Nets drag themselves into Monday’s game with the Grizzlies having lost seven of their last eight, and by increasingly lopsided margins.
Their last three defeats have come by a combined 93 points, the worst three-game span (including spanning seasons) in their regular-season NBA history, per Elias Sports Bureau.
And that’s a lot of history.
Not in a 12-70 disaster in 2009-10 that saw three different coaches.
Not in 11 different NBA campaigns where they finished dead last in their division or conference.
Not ever have they gone through a three-game stretch like this, losing by an eye-watering average of 31 points.
To get drilled by that much, problems must abound.
But the biggest ones are clearly on the offensive end of the court.
And even as Ollie has tried to scale things back and make things easier for his struggling players since replacing Vaughn, so far it hasn’t helped.
“Coach has been making it simple for us. He’s trying not to change the wheel because we’ve been playing a certain way for a while now,” Dorian Finney-Smith said. “So he just … he made it simple for us. So I don’t think it’s the sets, we’re just not making shots. We’ve got to figure it out.”
A two-month offensive slump has cratered over the last few games.
Brooklyn’s 50-point beating in Boston ended not just the nominal first half of the season, but also Vaughn’s tenure. Ollie’s regime is off to a rough start.
In his debut as interim, the Nets shot just .413 overall in a 28-point loss at Toronto, and 11 of 37 from behind the arc.
Their turnovers and long misses handed the Raptors easy run-outs and a staggering 46 transition points.
Ollie’s Nets actually showed more fight against Minnesota.
But against the league’s best defense, Brookyn’s offense was so bad it didn’t matter.
The Nets mustered just .337 percent shooting, and a 6-for-35 from deep that looked like a misprint.
Instead, it was just missed shots.
Both shooting percentages are their worst of the season, their 86 points scored their second-fewest.
“It’s just still understanding each other’s strengths,” said Ollie. “The ball … I just thought we missed a lot of shots. We got some good looks. The offense was giving us great looks. I mean, [Cam Johnson] missed a couple of them, perfect plays and perfect ball movement, peel and play, which just is what we want.
“So we’ve just got to make sure that we make those shots, and I think it’ll turn around. But I don’t think the execution was bad (in Minnesota), and I thought we got better from the Toronto game. If you look at the game, it was some wide-open shots that were missed.”
Mikal Bridges shot just 7 of 21 in Minnesota, 1-for-11 from deep.
Johnson was 2-for-9 from the floor, the Nets getting the uncontested attempts and shot profile they wanted but just unable to buy a basket,
“Yeah, we got great looks. I was just talking to Mikal now and I know he’s upset because he felt like he missed some great ones,” said Finney-Smith. “So if they give us these shots again, we’re gonna be in great hands.”
Perhaps. Johnson has struggled mightily since moving to the bench at the start of this three-game skid. Brooklyn’s best pure shooter, he’s averaged just 6.7 points on .190 percent shooting, and just 3 of 16 from behind the arc.
“Keep shooting,” Johnson said of his struggles.
Memphis’ defense isn’t as stout as Minnesota’s and presents an opportunity for the Nets — Johnson especially.
But he is going to have to adjust to his new reserve role to provide some much-needed shooting for this broken offense.
“It’s huge. It’s huge especially if you used to do it one way,” Ben Simmons acknowledged of making the adjustment from starter to backup. “But it just is what it is. It’s a different experience so you’ve just got to embrace it and play the role.”