Kidd Calls Out Players' Effort

Photo courtesy AP

We are kind of getting comfortable with losing. And we got to make a stand with that because when things get tough, do we just give in, and most of the time right now we do."

These were the words out of Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd, according to ESPN's Mike Mazzeo, following Monday night's ugly blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers.

The Nets have had more than their fair share of struggles this year, especially with injuries. That's never an excuse, though, for playing with a lack of effort. For the first time this year, it looks like Kidd has finally called his players out on that.

"When we don't make shots," said Kidd, and the Nets of late often don't make shots, "we tend to hang our head and we forget about playing defense."

Following these comments, the Nets laid another egg, this time on national television and on Christmas Day, in a 95-78 loss to the Chicago Bulls where the Nets shot 13% in the second quarter.

So that's two home games in a row now that the Nets have been blown out at home. It's also two home games in a row where the home team was booed off of the court in disgrace.

It's not the first time. We haven't put up much of a fight. It kind of comes with the territory," said Joe Johnson.

 Things just keep getting worse and worse with this team. As soon as it looked like Brooklyn was about to mount a turnaround and make a high seed in the playoffs, Brook Lopez went down with a broken foot and is sidelined for the rest of the season. Andrei Kirilenko still isn't back. Andray Blatche made one field goal on 11 attempts on Christmas and Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce combined have shot 6-for-32 – or 18.6%. And Deron Williams, who has been one of the Nets' very few bright spots lately, called this season a "nightmare."

Is there any hope? Let us know in the comments.

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