BROOKLYN NETS

Saying the Brooklyn Nets have been struggling lately would be an understatement.

They have won just four of their last 12 games, with that stretch including a loss to the Chicago Bulls and a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers that took three overtimes to eke out. The Miami Heat, on the other hand, played perhaps their best game of the season in their victory over the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 27.

Nevertheless, the Nets were still favored in this game, if for no other reason than necessity. They have been playing a poor brand of basketball, and as a result have been stuck hovering around .500 as teams like the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets continue to creep up the standings. Winning this game would have provided a much-needed confidence boost, and the Nets had a good shot at that with the Heat missing two of their best players in Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic.

Of course, things are never easy with the Brooklyn Nets.

If Nets fans were looking for a change of pace in Brooklyn’s recent lackluster play to start this game, there was none to be found. It was basically a rerun of the same issues — a lifeless offense lacking ball-movement, sloppy drives and passes leading to turnovers, and an aversion to playing defense.

This nasty dunk from Rodions Kurucs was the lone reason to watch the first half.

And as has become common, the second half continued the same habits of the first, with Brooklyn this time losing by its largest margin this season — 29.

This has easily been the worst basketball the Nets have played since their eight-game losing streak earlier this season. The difference this time is that many of those games were close losses the squad simply failed to close out; this recent stretch of poor play has manifested itself in blowout losses to teams the Nets were favored to beat.

This group does not look like a playoff team in its current state, and unless the Nets turn this around quickly, they won’t be.