The Nets have been constructed to outscore the opposition. To pile up factors and possess one of many league’s most aesthetically pleasing lineups.
Their improved protection, nonetheless, could also be one of many causes they’ll take the perfect file within the Japanese Convention into Wednesday’s recreation towards the Celtics. Monday evening, it fueled their newest victory.
“We went to switching everything instead of just 1 through 4. But more importantly than that we said we have to get into bodies,” coach Steve Nash mentioned of the come-from-behind win over the Cavaliers during which the Nets held the Cavs to 49 second-half factors and 38 p.c capturing from the sphere. “We kind of shut them down in the second half. That’s what we told them, ‘We have to win this game with defense,’ and they did that. … [Our offense] came off our defense. It came off us getting stops, it came off getting in transition or semi-transition, and getting to actions early and creating better scoring opportunities for ourselves. I think the defense led to the offense.”
A minimum of early, the Nets have been a lot improved at that finish of the ground, producing a defensive ranking of 104.7, the eighth-best mark within the league, after ending within the bottom-third a 12 months in the past. That may be attributed to various additions, equivalent to guards Patty Mills, Jevon Carter and DeAndre’ Bembry, and wing James Johnson. It has helped mitigate the season-long absence of Kyrie Irving, who’s away from the staff after his refusal to comply with New York Metropolis’s vaccine mandate.
“We have a unique situation this year,” Nash mentioned, “and we have to try to enjoy finding an identity with this group.”
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