The Brooklyn Nets get the Detroit Pistons playing the second half of a road back-to-back coming into Barclays Center on Wednesday night.
Travel and the schedule can be a test of its own. Is it what caught up to the Nets Monday night at Madison Square Garden, playing for the third time in three nights in a stretch that began in New Orleans on Friday night? After a sharp shooting start, the Nets were blitzed by the New York Knicks, who built a lead as big as 25 points in a 115-96 win.
"'We've just got to be better," said Caris LeVert. "We've got to be more mature as a team. Despite our age, despite anything else. Three games in four days, that's the NBA. We can't put it on that. We're going to have more of those this year and seasons to come. So we've got to learn how to be better in those situations, just prepare better mentally and physically."
A familiar concern arose on Monday night as the Knicks outrebounded Brooklyn 53 to 32. The Pistons offer the Nets a similar matchup challenge with the powerful frontcourt pair of Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin. In Detroit's 103-100 win over the Nets in the season-opener, Drummond had 24 points and 20 rebounds and Griffin had 26 points and eight rebounds.
"It's something we've got to remedy," said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson. "I thought we did it the first game we played (the Knicks) at home. But now on the road it's different. You've got to bring another level of physicality to answer their aggressiveness. It's not only the strongest guy in the weight room. You can do it with an intelligence and an understanding how to play the game. Disappointed. We've got to go back to the drawing board and get ready for Detroit."
COUNTING ON CARIS
Part 1 of Caris LeVert's spectacular introduction to the 2018-19 season took place against the Pistons, when the third-year guard put up 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting, two nights before he went for 28 and the game-winner in the home opener against the Knicks.
After seven games, LeVert is the Nets' leading scorer with 18.9 points per game, plus 4.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game, all career-high rates. He went in to Monday night's game coming off a 23-point, seven-assists outing against the Golden State Warriors.
But for the first time this season, LeVert truly struggled in finishing with four points. After posting his best 3-point shooting night of the season against the Warriors, going 4-for-7, LeVert missed all six of his threes against the Knicks.
Afterwards, Atkinson acknowledged that LeVert has developed into a player the Nets are relying on offensively.
"This is the next level of becoming a great player in this league is to do it consistently," said Atkinson. "He's done it for most of the season. He had a tough game tonight obviously. But we need him to be, not good, we need him to be very, very good. Tonight was one of those nights. I also think those are the nights when someone else has got to step up. We need someone from the bench or another starter to step up and take the torch."
ABOUT THE PISTONS
After winning their first four games of the season, the Pistons found themselves in a home-and-home set with the Boston Celtics and dropped both games. After a 20-point loss on Saturday, the Pistons battled back from a double-digit deficit to within a point twice in the fourth quarter before the Celtics held on for a 108-105 win. Drummond is third in the NBA in rebounding with 15.2 per game while also averaging 18.2 points. Griffin is ninth in the league in scoring with 27.5 points per game, plus 10.8 rebounds and a team-leading 4.3 assists per game.