16 Games in 29 Days: Brooklyn Nets' Marathon Will Define Their Season

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Brooklyn Nets are in the midst of a brutal stretch: 16 games in 29 days, their entire January schedule—and it hasn't exactly started off pretty. 

Brooklyn won its first game of 2015, a too-close-for-comfort win in Orlando, and it may not run into another victory any time soon.

The Nets haven't won a game since Jan. 2, are in the process of falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture—currently holding the eighth seed—and it doesn't seem like it will get better any time soon. 

The 16-21 Nets are riding a five-game losing streak into a week that includes the Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies and a home-and-home back-to-back against the Washington Wizards. And this is after a five-games-in-seven-days stretch.

Unfair. Just unfair.

Date	Team
Jan. 12	vs. Houston Rockets
Jan. 14	vs. Memphis Grizzlies
Jan. 16	at Washington Wizards
Jan. 17	vs. Washington Wizards
Jan. 21	at Sacramento Kings
Jan. 22	at Los Angeles Clippers
Jan. 24	at Utah Jazz
Jan. 26	vs. Portland Trail Blazers
Jan. 28	at Atlanta Hawks
Jan. 30	vs. Toronto Raptors

Even crueler: Brooklyn heads on a West Coast trip after that, only to come back east to be welcomed by the Trail Blazers, Hawks and Raptors. All these games are packed into a window so tight, no basketball player could ever be able to climb out of it.

Now, here's the hot sports take: It's conceivable the Nets are in the beginning stages of a 15-game January losing streak (which could extend to 17 considering they start off February with the Clippers and Raptors).

"When you're in these stretches, rest is probably more important than practice," Hollins philosophizes.

So, with that in mind, the Nets have had limited rehearsal time over these last few weeks, mainly getting together to study for upcoming matchups. 

We hear it all the time. Back-to-backs kill a team's energy. Actually, back-to-backs have become such a hot topic in the NBA that we now have shorthand for "second game of a back-to-back" (SEGABABA, a colloquialism that's even more fun if you imagine it in Dikembe Mutombo's voice). 

Well, Brooklyn has four back-to-backs over this January stretch, one per week on average, though Mason Plumlee doesn't seem to have any problem with it.

"Back-to-backs, it doesn't bother us," says Plumlee. "It doesn't bother me. We're young enough. We're fresh enough...I think back-to-backs are probably the most overrated thing."

Maybe Plumlee is just young. Or maybe he has a point. After all, the Nets' two best wins of the season (home to San Antonio and at Chicago) have come on SEGABABAs.

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

Still, a 24-year-old isn't likely to get as fatigued as someone 10 or 12 years his senior. In Taylor Swift's his words, "Players want to play." But actions do, in fact, speak louder than words.

Kevin Garnett has sat for at least one game of all the Nets' back-to-backs, save two. Hollins has even spoken about lowering Jarrett Jack's and Joe Johnson's minute totals, a more difficult task with Deron Williams injured once again.

The Nets may not actually drop 15 or 17 straight, but this isn't exactly poised to be a golden stretch, even if the team is already a third of the way there.

Let's say Brooklyn wins in Sacramento and/or in Utah. We're still talking about a 2-8 slide over its next 10 games, bringing the Nets to 3-13 in January and pushing them a grand 11 games below .500 on the season.

We're going to have to see some unexpected wins, but those hypothetical victories are, by definition, unpredictable. How could anyone possibly pick the Nets to beat the Clippers at STAPLES Center or to defeat Washington or Houston or Memphis or Portland or Atlanta? The list goes on.

Brooklyn has already fallen to the No. 8 seed in the East, only two games ahead of the Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets. But both those teams are starting to play better. The Josh Smith-less Detroit Pistons, meanwhile, are apparently the '96 Bulls brought back to life and sit only three games back of the Nets at the moment. 

This team is on a downward trajectory which could bottom it right out of the playoff picture—unless it actually picks up some wins against the Washingtons or Houstons or Portlands of the world. But it's not encouraging right now.

Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

Brooklyn ranks 24th in points per possession on the season, and the offense is getting worse, averaging just 90.7 points per 100 possessions during the five-game losing streak, almost nine points per 100 below its regular average. 

"Guys haven't made shots, and we've had injuries to guys that we counted on to score," Hollins surmises of the Nets' season-long offensive issues. But it's more than that, isn't it?

The spacing has turned into crunching. The simplicity of the offense is becoming easy to read with defenses cutting off first options and leaving Brooklyn with little else to do. The ball is dying in the hands of the over-dribblers. 

If Brooklyn stays afloat, wins a few games it shouldn't and remains in the Eastern Conference race during Hell Month, it'll have an opportunity to play more than 82. But this all sounds more hopeful than it does likely once you remember the Nets are 2-12 against teams who are currently .500 or better.

The most shocking part of that may be that Brooklyn is five games under mediocre with a schedule that has provided them with only 14 matches against teams who have more wins than losses.

The Nets have a nice February slate. With only 11 games on the schedule for the month, they'll get their rest, but by then, it might be too late.

Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade but maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work on ESPN's TrueHoop Network at ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.

All quotes obtained firsthand. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of Jan. 12 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.