Brooklyn pulled the biggest stunner of its season by knocking off 14-point favorite Detroit. Here's how "disrespect" led to the Nets win.
The Brooklyn Nets created a more jubilant locker room compared to the home side inside Little Caesar's Arena Saturday.
Brooklyn erased a 23-point deficit to stun Detroit 107-105, pulling off its biggest upset of the season for themselves.
But again, the players and coaches inside the home locker room were left in a disappointing mood. But the one who was clearly the most discontent was head coach J.B. BIckerstaff, who dropped this blunt take on what went right on the Nets' side.
“We stopped respecting the game,” Bickerstaff said to reporters following the 107-105 defeat. “You disrespect the game, it’s going to bite you in the ass. And that’s what happened to us tonight."
He blames "disrespect" for how the Nets pulled off the win. The "disrespect" came in the form of botched three-point defense that left Michael Porter Jr. open.
It additionally came with Ziaire Williams attacking the net in swift fashion.
And finally, the Nets took advantage of a team no longer respecting their opponent by erasing the massive deficit and pulled off their biggest comeback of the season.
"We just stopped moving. I mean, it’s that simple. We’re not a team that should play a ton of isolation basketball. We have guys who are capable, but our strength is when we move people around,” Bickerstaff said. “We just got stagnant.”
Brooklyn took advantage of porous shooting selection on the Pistons side as their field goal shooting dropped to 33% in the second half.
That’s not playing to our identity,” Bickerstaff explained. “We have to realize the reason we’re sitting in the position that we’re sitting in is because of the type and style that we’re willing to play. And that’s not something you turn on and turn off. That’s what you have to do consistently.”
Tobias Harris concurred with his own head coach afterwards.
"That about sums it up,” Tobias Harris told reporters inside the locker room. “That third quarter, then on, we just didn’t play basketball the way that we play basketball.”
Isaiah Stewart also chimed in, saying how "everyone needs to look at themselves in the mirror" after the loss.
Brooklyn, still, erased the memories of a horrendous 53-point loss at the hands of these Pistons. Plus snapped a 10-game losing slide in the process.
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