After losing 125-113 to the Cavaliers on Friday night, the Brooklyn Nets are leaving their road trip to Cleveland 0-2 and have a ton of defensive breakdowns to discuss in their next movie session.
“These were two humiliating losses,” said Kyrie Irving, Nets point guard, after Friday’s game.
Scoring was no problem for the Nets, even without Kevin Durant, who was absent on Wednesday after more than 50 minutes of play in Brooklyn’s double overtime. At the defensive end, the Nets de Cavaliers were unable to slow down in the paint.
In Wednesday’s defeat, the Nets gave up 64 points in the paint. They gave up another 70 points in Friday’s defeat, with Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen finishing with 19 points from the bench to go along with 19 points from center Andre Drummond and 25 points from guard Collin Sexton. According to research from ESPN Stats & Information, the 134 paint points are the highest that Brooklyn has allowed in a two-game period over the past 25 seasons.
“That’s a lot of points in the paint,” said James Harden, who finished with 19 points and 11 assists. “Offensive rebounds happen, lay-ups happen, good things don’t happen when the ball hits, and tonight we allowed that too much.”
Brooklyn also was eliminated 50-29 on Friday. The Nets’ rebound rate of 35.6% was their worst in a game in the past two seasons.
Allen, who was traded to Cleveland as part of the package that landed Harden in Brooklyn, had been an anchor of the Nets’ nascent defense. In the past two games against his former team this week, Allen contested 23 shots and Brooklyn stopped shooting those shots by just 26%, according to ESPN’s Stats & Information survey.
Brooklyn couldn’t muster defensive urgency – 40% of the Cavaliers’ total goal attempts in the past two games have not been contested by Nets defenders. Allen and Taurean Prince, who were also part of the exchange for Harden, together shot 64% over the past two games.
“You wish it wasn’t against you,” Joe Harris said of Prince and Allen’s performances, “but you’re obviously happy for those guys.”
Now Nets coach Steve Nash’s message is to walk the tightrope of not panic but also urgently improve at the defensive end of the floor.
“We just have to find a way to play harder,” said Nash. “Dig deeper. We’re not a defensive squad. We need to be more proud, contest more shots, fight, scrap, claw, and that’s what I think is just as lacking as something schematic we’re tearing down.”
Nash added, “I think the bigger message is that just coming to the gym isn’t good enough.”
The Nets plan to sign forward / center Norvel Pelle once he approves the competition’s coronavirus testing protocols, his agents, BJ Bass and Tod Seidel, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday. Still, Nash reiterated several times that Brooklyn cannot rely on signing reinforcements to bolster its defense. Instead, he begged the Nets to “look in and take responsibility and make it a priority and try to grow defensively.”
DeAndre Jordan, who is the Nets’ only active real center, said he sees his job as “a defensive force” and a defensive spark plug for the team. Jordan had his hands full with Drummond and Allen, who came off the field 7-for-11 when they were defended by Jordan in the past two games.
“We can’t make ourselves too small or panic early,” Jordan said. Even though a lot of people want us to panic. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Championship teams weren’t built in a day. They’ve been through difficulties. So we have to be able to deal with this. back for the rest of the season and respond. “