Long Island loses second straight to Windy City

Two straight losses to the Windy City Bulls and the Long Island Nets playoff picture is not as bright as it had been. The Nets are vying for one of three wild-card spots in the G-League’s Eastern Conference. They currently hold the No. 2 spot but are now two and a half games ahead of the Lakeland Magic, who sits at No. 4, with eight to play.

On Sunday, Long Island lost, 103-96, at Nassau Coliseum, in a mirror image of Friday’s loss, also on the Island. On Friday, the Nets went down early, then came back. On Sunday, they went up early, then lost.

“I thought we came out and played with great energy and togetherness on defense,” head coach Ronald Nored told Tom Dowd of brooklynnets.com. “I think it was like 15-2 to start the game. I thought the guys were really engaged. And then we gave up two transition threes. One to (Antonio) Blakeney, one to (Jarrell) Eddie. They had scored before that, but that cut the lead to like four, and then we lost our way a little bit.”

After a back-and-forth game, the Nets held a slim advantage late in the fourth, but couldn’t close it out. Tied at 88 with under five minutes to go, the Nets (23-19) were outscored 15-8 to the finish.

Jeremy Senglin, who plays an Eddie House-like role for Long Island, tried his best in the end. He hadn’t hit a three coming into the fourth, missing five, but then went on a 10-point tear in the final quarter.

“He was good,” said Nored. “What he started to do, earlier he was finding guys when he was able to drive the ball, finding guys for dump downs and layups. When he’s in attack mode, he’s hard to stop, he’s hard to keep in front when he’s making shots. He ran to the corner right in front of our bench, hit a big corner three to take the lead to three. Took him a while to get going, but there is never a time when we tell him not to shoot.”

There were no big nights from the Nets assignee, Isaiah Whitehead, or their two two-way contracts after a string of extraordinary performances of late. Whitehead and Webb finished with 13 each and Doyle had only nine. After the game, Webb tweeted...

Kamari Murphy, the Brooklyn native and Miami product, had another double-double, 21 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. The 6’9” Murphy played with Whitehead at Lincoln High on Coney Island.

Nored has praise for Senglin, who scored 40 points off the bench last month and is averaging 20.2 per 36 minutes for the young Nets. Senglin finished with 15.

“He was good,” said Nored. “What he started to do, earlier he was finding guys when he was able to drive the ball, finding guys for dump downs and layups. When he’s in attack mode, he’s hard to stop, he’s hard to keep in front when he’s making shots. He ran to the corner right in front of our bench, hit a big corner three to take the lead to three. Took him a while to get going, but there is never a time when we tell him not to shoot.”

Senglin is shooting 35.4 percent from deep and averaging 14.1 points, mostly off the bench. The 6’2” guard was the NCAA Division I leader in 3-pointers last year at Weber State.

Long Island has been without several key players. Prince Ibeh, Akil Mitchell and Tahjere McCall, their top defenders, have missed significant time to injuries. McCall, in fact, is out for the season following wrist surgery

• Game Report: Windy City Bulls 103, Long Island Nets 96 (with Video) - G-League
• Full Game (Video) - G-League
• FINAL: WINDY CITY BULLS 103, LONG ISLAND NETS 96 - Tom Dowd - Brooklyn Nets