Dave D'Alessandro raises a simple question about the Nets: are they as a team inherently soft or as he put it, "too scared to guard, too scared to help, too scared to rotate, too scared to contest shots, and, heaven forbid, too scared to put a body on someone or commit a hard foul?" Brook Lopez pleads guilty: "I think people – myself included – they pick up that early foul and then shy away from contact."

• Nets 'have to get tough somehow' as defense continues to falter - Dave D'Alessandro - Star-Ledger
• Nets Are Getting Worse - Al Iannazzone - The Nets Insider
• One lost cause - Fred Kerber - New York Post