“It is something that we definitely have to figure out,” said LaMarcus Aldridge, who scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half Friday while joining the NBA’s 20,000-point club. Taking out the win over the Wizards, in which they stormed to an 18-point lead after 12 minutes, the Nets have been outscored by 33 points combined in the first quarters of their other five games. Still, the Nets will have to address their rough starts as they continue to search for consistency in their young season. LaMarcus Aldridge has Nets question to answer after reaching milestone Millsap scored all eight of his points during a stretch of nine-plus minutes in the second quarter, helping the Nets wipe away the deficit and take a three-point lead into halftime. Corey Sipkinĭurant credited the Nets’ second unit, including veteran big man Paul Millsap, with turning the game around. Teams are gonna try to start off and hit us early first to get the lead, and I think we did a good job of fighting back.” Kevin Durant says the Nets have to find a way to get off to quicker starts. “Teams are gonna come here and feel like they’ve got to do little things to beat us: offensive rebounds, muck the game up, get steals, clog the paint, stuff like that. We gave up like three or four offensive rebounds in the first, and then that got them going at the 3-point line, and so they felt good about themselves to start. “I feel like we turned it over like three times in a row there in the first. “We’ve just gotta do the little stuff on the defensive side of the ball,” Kevin Durant said. The Pacers outscored them 38-26 in the first quarter and led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter before the Nets settled in and mounted a comeback for a 105-98 win. Through their first six games of the season, while alternating losses and wins, the Nets have been most consistent at getting off to slow starts.Īside from their most complete win of the season, against the Wizards on Monday, the Nets have struggled early in games, with Friday serving as the latest example. Knicks ‘pissed’ at refs after tough loss to Nets Reggie Miller finds way to hurt the Knicks again Smith melted down after Knicks’ brutal loss “He’s a championship coach and a championship person.”īen Arthur covers the Tennessee Titans for The USA TODAY Network.Nets need superstar to keep playing this way … He’s had a lot of success in this league. "Seems like the players enjoy playing for him. “I think he’s got a very creative offensive mind," Vrabel continued. Every meeting that I’ve ever been associated with, Andy tries to give input to younger coaches. "He’s coached a lot of great players, coached a lot of great teams. “Just to be able to have conversations with him," Vrabel said of Reid. The Titans took down the Chiefs at home in that season before falling to Kansas City in the AFC championship game. Vrabel and Reid have faced off twice, with both matchups coming in the 2019 season. Vrabel said Chiefs coach Andy Reid has been a great mentor to him since his days coaching the Houston Texans, though they’ve never worked together on the same staff. “We do have to get off to better starts and try to help ourselves earlier in the game.” Vrabel with praise for Chiefs’ Reid
“We have to do a better job of anticipating some things that may have been different that maybe we weren’t expecting,” Vrabel said. Vrabel said it could be a result of different looks the offense has seen to start the year. Definitely something we want to improve upon.” We have some opportunities early (against Buffalo). “Sometimes, things just aren’t going your way. It’s a big reason why, despite improvement the last couple weeks, the team still ranks in the bottom half of the NFL in red-zone efficiency (tied for 18th), where it ranked in the top two the last couple seasons. The Titans are also an abysmal 6-of-13 (46.1%) in the red zone in the first half of games, including just 1-of-3 (33.3%) in the first quarter. It has just 20 points in the first quarter through six games, an average of 3.3. Slow starts have plagued Tennessee this season. “That’s what we’re focused on against Kansas City.”īefore Henry’s 76-yard touchdown run shifted the momentum of the Bills game to start the second quarter, the Titans had just 24 yards of offense.
“We’ll have to start the game better,” coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday. Riding the brilliance of Derrick Henry, a surging offense helped the Tennessee Titans topple the dominant Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.īut there’s a big emphasis for the Titans (4-2) offensively ahead of their Week 7 matchup against the Chiefs (3-3) on Sunday (noon, CBS): Getting off to a faster start.