Brooklyn Nets News: Coach Lionel Hollins Preaching Extra Effort, Diving For Loose Balls

The Brooklyn Nets head into Saturday's game at the Portland Trail Blazers with a 4-4 record and riding a mini two-game losing streak.

The second of those losses came at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Thursday, despite what Nets coach Lionel Hollins termed as "scratching and clawing" by the team's role players in making the 107-99 loss at least interesting in the second half.

Hollins seems to believe that the lack of that kind of attitude by the starters in the first half may have been the main reason why the Nets weren't able to pull off the big win on the road.

“You don’t have to get any loose balls and you don’t have to get any rebounds, and then you lose, 107-99, you feel good about yourself because you came back and you were close,” Hollins said, via Andrew Keh of the New York Times. “But if you want to win, you’ve got to get on the floor, dive and get those rebounds, and do some of those things that are extra.”

The biggest problem? Rebounds. The Nets allowed the Warriors to grab 14 offensive rebounds on Thursday - second chances that led to 19 crucial points for Golden State.

"We've just got to be the guys to go to the ball,” he said. “There’s guys that have a nose for the ball, and there’s guys that don’t. You can be inside, outside, it doesn’t matter. There’s some guys that rebound the ball, and there’s some guys that don’t.”

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