Following the Nets: Fight to the Finish

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Just before entering his office, Thunder coach Scott Brooks walked past the remaining Ford Center security personnel and patted one woman on the shoulder.

"Did we scare you?" he queried.

A couple of them, including a member of the Oklahoma City PD, answered in the affirmative. Another person piped up, though, "Aw, coach, we knew you had it."

Such is the confidence Thunder fans can have when they have Kevin Durant on their side. Durant, who didn't make a field goal in the third quarter, exploded for 13 points in the fourth to finish with 32 to lead the Thunder past a game Nets squad, 106-104, on Friday.

For the Thunder, it was win No. 40, the franchise's first 40-win campaign in five seasons. For the Nets, it was their 58th defeat in 65 games and the seventh time since the franchise entered the NBA that it has tumbled into at least a 58-loss valley.

Although that's a step in the wrong direction of history, the Nets have made some steps in the right direction as of late, with Friday night's fight to the finish being the latest example. After falling into an ugly 15-point hole with a little more than six minutes to play in the fourth, the Nets found a rhythm and the Thunder found themselves in a dog fight.

"We've had seven or eight games in a row where we've played playoff-type teams," Nets coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. "We are right there with those teams."

That they are, and that's why, despite having only seven wins, the Nets look better than a seven-win team. They just don't have the victories to show for it. One of the reasons being is that on this four-game swing away from the Hudson River, they've run into teams with more talent or more weapons or a deadly combination of both.

In Memphis, they hung tough before the Grizzlies pulled away. In Dallas, they built an impressive 18-point lead before the Mavs wore them down. On Friday, they fell behind early when forward Jeff Green nearly ran them off the court by himself and found themselves ensnared in Durantula's web late. That was a one-two punch from which the Nets couldn't recover.

"They played hard," Brooks said. "They played hard against the Mavericks. They had a good game against the Knicks. Along the way, I'm sure they've had some bad breaks, last-second shots, bad turnovers."

On Friday, those bad breaks continued. With a chance to make the Ford Center faithful chew on their nails a little more, Nets guard Devin Harris lifted a little floater in the lane that could have cut the lead to two with 25.9 seconds to play. Out of his hand, the floater looked good. On the rim, it bounced once and still looked good. But it rolled off the side and the Thunder kept the Nets at bay until a last-second Nets layup provided a more cosmetically pleasing two-point loss.

"They just have to keep fighting and keep getting better," Brooks said, "and it can turn around quickly."

Brooks speaks from experience. He took over a team that was 1-12 last season and has gone 62-71 since. Of course, having Green and Durant, whose 32-point performance was his 36th 30-plus point game this season, breaking Spencer Heywood's franchise record, can't be discounted. With players of that caliber, no franchise will be down for long.

And that's the Nets' hope: that they won't be down for long. Their effort, their energy, their inability to stop fighting has put them into position to win. It's just that they haven't been able to do it.

"We definitely have to stick together," Nets guard Courtney Lee said. "It hasn't gone the way we've wanted it to go or the way we hoped it would go, but it's a learning experience if we can take this year and learn from it.

"As of right now, we can just continue to get better individually and as a team, we can get things to go."