Fast start turns to sluggish ending for Nets

The good news for the Nets Friday night against the Detroit Pistons is that they got off to a solid start for a change, scoring the game's first seven points.

Then, they immediately reverted back to their usual lackluster offensive play, connecting on one of their next 13 shots, as the Pistons simply ran away from the Nets en route to an easy 109-92 victory at the Palace at Auburn Hills, a game where the Nets once trailed by 30.

It was the fourth consecutive win for the Pistons (8-20), dating back to last Wednesday, when they dropped a 99-96 decision to the Nets in Newark.

It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Nets (8-20), who started to see some light at the end of the tunnel two weeks ago by winning four of six, but now have hit a brick wall due to the losing streak. They have not won since defeating the Pistons last week.

Once again, the Nets have turned a little-used reserve into a superstar. Last week, they watched unknowns like Nikola Pekovic of Minnesota and Jeremy Lin of the Knicks post career-high point totals.

For the second consecutive game, Detroit's Jonas Jerebko lit up the Nets off the bench. Jerebko, who had 16 points in the Pistons' win Wednesday, had 20 on Friday, far better than his 9.4 point per game average.

Nets coach Avery Johnson was upset after the loss.

"It's very disappointing," Johnson said. "We got off to a decent start, then we let them come back and take control of the game. We just can't finish in the paint right now. We miss too many layups. I don't know if there's a team right now who misses more shots in the paint than we do. We emphasize defense, defense, but we put pressure on our offense by missing so many easy shots."

Johnson knows his team is slumping badly.

"We had good efforts against Philly and Cleveland on the road, then we haven't played great since," Johnson said. "We're searching to get our confidence back. We're at a point where unless Deron (Williams) scores 40, we're not going to win and I'm not sure that can happen every night."

Johnson bemoaned the play of the Nets' bigger players, as the starters upfront managed just seven points.

"We're undersized and not that athletic," Johnson said. "This is who we are. But we can't allow teams to get running starts, because we're not going to win jumping contests."

The Nets will play host to San Antonio Saturday night at the Prudential Center.

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