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Kevin Garnett’s teammates could tell he was seething. From the locker room, to the bus, until the Nets boarded their plane at Orlando International Airport on Sunday night, everyone gave Garnett plenty of space.
Then, Garnett gave them an earful.
“Nothing that I’d like to share or repeat,” Garnett said of his talk with the team after an embarrassing loss to Orlando. “But we’re trying to form something here … and it’s just consistency.
“I was just letting them know that consistency is the difference between great teams and OK teams. That was the message.”
The message appears to have gotten through, loud and clear.
The Nets crushed Utah on Tuesday night, cruising to a 104-88 victory. Nets center Brook Lopez led the way, finishing with a season-high 27 points to lead all scorers.
The Nets had six players in double figures, including 10 points from Deron Williams. The guard, who played the first 5½ seasons of his career in Utah before being traded to the Nets in 2011, picked up his first win against his former team.
It was also coach Jason Kidd’s first win on the sideline and his first home game — Kidd was suspended for the first two games of the season because of a DWI last year, and missed the team’s win over Miami. In the locker room after the game, Kidd’s players — many of whom he used to compete against — presented him with the game ball.
“[That] was a very classy thing,” Kidd said. “Very respectful. But the game ball doesn’t come to me, it goes to those guys, because those guys did the work as a team. It wasn’t an individual out there, this was Brooklyn Nets basketball where everybody did their part.”
Tuesday’s game against Utah was everything Sunday’s game against Orlando was not. Against the rebuilding Magic, the Nets suffered a 21-point loss.
“Orlando was totally failed effort,” Garnett said. “I don’t even want to comment on that.”
So after Garnett gave his teammates a tongue-lashing on the team plane, the Nets got back to work at practice Monday. It wasn’t a long practice, but it was an intense one.
“We had a great practice,” Williams said. “And I think it carried over.”
From the opening moments, the Nets took command with Lopez leading the way. The center showed no ill effects from a sprained right ankle he suffered against Orlando. He scored 11 of the Nets’ first 16 points as Brooklyn surged to a 28-18 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
It was a complete performance; all 13 Nets players saw at least 10 minutes of time, and no player was on the court for longer than 26 minutes. The Nets shot 51.3 percent from the field, scored 25 points on the fast break and crushed the Jazz, 58-26, in points in the paint.
It was a complete performance and a consistent effort — everything Garnett was hoping for after he ripped into his teammates two nights before.
“We all were disappointed,” Williams said of the loss to Orlando. “And I think KG is a great leader, no matter what the circumstances are. When we look at ourselves and what we want to be as a team, we know that we can’t play that way. We can’t have games like those.”
The Nets made sure they didn’t on this night.
