Nets players meet as Nash calls loss 'disaster'

NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets held a players-only gathering aft Saturday night's 125-116 nonaccomplishment to the Indiana Pacers. It was the Nets' 4th consecutive nonaccomplishment and dropped them to 1-5 this season.

"It was a disaster," Nets manager Steve Nash said of the loss. "How other bash you accidental it? I didn't spot the will, didn't spot the desire, oregon the connectivity indispensable to get stops and get rebounds. ... We conscionable got to marque a bigger committedness and it's got to mean much and we got to attraction more."

The Nets looked lifeless astatine times arsenic the undermanned Pacers, playing connected the 2nd nighttime of a back-to-back, outworked and outhustled them. The Nets person struggled to find consistency this season.

"It was a s---ty night," Nets prima guardant Kevin Durant said. "Excuse my language, it was a atrocious night. ... We're pissed. We bask basketball. We similar to win, though, truthful of people erstwhile we suffer the games it's going to beryllium a somber temper successful the locker room. But it volition alteration erstwhile we commencement playing immoderate bully basketball. We got a batch of hoops to beryllium played up of us."

The signs of a gathering were evident soon aft the Nets' latest disappointing loss. Nash, who usually speaks to the media a fewer minutes aft the crippled ends, was delayed getting to his quality conference. The Nets' locker room, which usually opens close aft Nash finishes speaking, was closed agelong aft Nash's quality league was completed. Once the locker country yet opened, the temper was somber arsenic players dressed softly successful beforehand of their locker stalls and headed retired of Barclays Center.

"It was honest," Nets swingman Ben Simmons said of the meeting. "We had a conversation. Obviously, I'm not going to speech about, but it was honest. That's what winning teams do. Hold each different accountable, beryllium capable to beryllium unfastened and speech to your teammates, and respect that and beryllium men."

Durant was asked if, successful his acquisition successful the league, meetings helped a squad travel together.

"We're successful changeless connection each the time," Durant said. "If it's a scheduled gathering oregon not, I deliberation we each speech astir what we request to bash arsenic a squad each day. So careless of if it was aft a loss, oregon a meeting, we ever person that. We're ever successful changeless dialog astir what we request to bash arsenic a group, truthful I wouldn't accidental it was thing special."

Nash was asked if helium felt his connection was inactive getting done to the team.

"They're proceeding it," Nash said. "They're arguing with each different astir missing coverages and the deficiency of connection retired there. Just excessively galore errors. Too galore errors connected apical of deficiency of effort astatine times. Sometimes it's not adjacent astir schemes, it's astir fight."

The Nets person not had capable of that aboriginal successful the play and the vexation wrong the radical appears to beryllium boiling over.

"We person to look deep," Nash said. "Deep wrong ourselves and what we privation to do. What bash we privation to accomplish? Do we privation to springiness up connected this due to the fact that it's been hard aboriginal oregon bash we privation to enactment the people and commencement to physique something?

"We've had a batch of truly bully days present aboriginal successful the play and we've mislaid a mates games and it's shook our mentality, shook our mentality hard. And we're not seeing the aforesaid competitory spirit, aforesaid purpose, and if we don't cleanable that up it's not going to get better. It's the lone mode to get retired of hard positions is to person quality and competitory spirit."