Nets'Winning Streak, Their First of Season,2 hit

Having secured their ninth victory of a desperately forgettable season Friday night against Detroit, the Nets will not go down as the most futile team in N.B.A. history.
But putting some distance between themselves and the nine-win Philadelphia 76ers of 1972-73 will have to wait. The Nets had no legs, no defensive answers and no shooting touch against the Chicago Bulls in the second of back-to-back games Saturday night, and took a 106-83 beating at the United Center.

“It’s disappointing,” Coach Kiki Vandeweghe said after the Nets’ first two-game winning streak of the season was halted. “The Bulls are playing for something, and it showed. We did not come to play tonight. We didn’t match their energy.”

The Nets are 9-64 with nine games left, the next one at home against San Antonio on Monday. One night after their highest-scoring and best shooting game of the season, they made just 35.8 percent of their 81 shots from the field. They were outrebounded, 54-42, and never led after the first quarter, when the Bulls used a 23-5 run to break the game open.

“Last night didn’t carry over,” said Jarvis Hayes, who made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. “Fatigue was part of it, but we didn’t have good ball movement and we didn’t play well on defense. We couldn’t get a stop.”
The rookie Terrence Williams led the Nets with 16 points. The 7-footers Brook Lopez and Yi Jianlian combined for 68 points Friday against Detroit. But Yi (7 points) was in foul trouble all night against Chicago and played 17 minutes. The frustrated Lopez (7 points) made 2 of 11 shots.
“These are the games where you take your lumps, hope you learn some lessons and move on,” Vandeweghe said.

The Bulls are without their No. 2 scorer, Luol Deng, who is out with a strained calf, and the energetic center Joakim Noah is playing limited minutes because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. But they stayed within hailing distance of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot by sharing the ball: they had 30 assists on their 37 baskets.

But putting some distance between themselves and the nine-win Philadelphia 76ers of 1972-73 will have to wait. The Nets had no legs, no defensive answers and no shooting touch against the Chicago Bulls in the second of back-to-back games Saturday night, and took a 106-83 beating at the United Center.
“It’s disappointing,” Coach Kiki Vandeweghe said after the Nets’ first two-game winning streak of the season was halted. “The Bulls are playing for something, and it showed. We did not come to play tonight. We didn’t match their energy.”
The Nets are 9-64 with nine games left, the next one at home against San Antonio on Monday. One night after their highest-scoring and best shooting game of the season, they made just 35.8 percent of their 81 shots from the field. They were outrebounded, 54-42, and never led after the first quarter, when the Bulls used a 23-5 run to break the game open.
“Last night didn’t carry over,” said Jarvis Hayes, who made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. “Fatigue was part of it, but we didn’t have good ball movement and we didn’t play well on defense. We couldn’t get a stop.”

The rookie Terrence Williams led the Nets with 16 points. The 7-footers Brook Lopez and Yi Jianlian combined for 68 points Friday against Detroit. But Yi (7 points) was in foul trouble all night against Chicago and played 17 minutes. The frustrated Lopez (7 points) made 2 of 11 shots.
“These are the games where you take your lumps, hope you learn some lessons and move on,” Vandeweghe said.

The Bulls are without their No. 2 scorer, Luol Deng, who is out with a strained calf, and the energetic center Joakim Noah is playing limited minutes because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. But they stayed within hailing distance of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot by sharing the ball: they had 30 assists on their 37 baskets.