The Brooklyn Nets are still looking for their first win coming out of the All-Star break, but it seems that they have figured out how to get back to playing as hard as they can. Brooklyn could continue to struggle to win games as this season comes to a close and that would explain why they remain ranked as one of the worst teams in the league heading into March.
“The Nets were competitive against the Cavs on Sunday, but they’ve put themselves in the mix for the worst record in the league, having lost eight straight games, their longest streak of the season,” John Schuhmann wrote for NBA.com in his latest power rankings. The Nets hold their spot as the 28th-ranked team in the league, but it’s not for their lack of effort being the main problem at the moment.
“The Nets are in a position to rank in the bottom five on both ends of the floor for the first time in the last 10 seasons,” Schuhmann wrote before noting that Brooklyn seems to struggle getting off to good starts, hurting their ability to remain competitive over the course of 48 minutes. “The Nets continue to lead the league with nine wire-to-wire losses (games they never led), including one against the Spurs last week.”
Despite the game still ending in a loss, the Nets had an encouraging performance in Sunday’s 106-102 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers as they never trailed by more than 11 points over the course of the game. However, the fact remains that head coach Jordi Fernandez has been urging his players to not only play hard, but to also play their best basketball so that they can give themselves a fighting chance against some of the better teams in the NBA.
While Brooklyn has a tough week on the road ahead of them as they visit the Miami Heat twice before visiting the Detroit Pistons, the Nets schedule for the rest of this season is promising. Heading into Tuesday’s matchup at the Heat, the Nets have the 10th-easiest schedule to finish the season. With matchups against some of the worst teams in the league still on the slate, Brooklyn may be able to end the season on a strong note, irrespective of where they place in weekly power rankings.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets remain 28th in NBA.com power rankings (Mar. 2 update)
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
