Brown’s All-Around Effort Helps Star-Less Nets Halt Losing Skid
For one night, the Nets could smile again.
Victors for the first time since January 21 versus San Antonio, after 11 consecutive defeats, Brooklyn went wire-to-wire to trounce visiting Sacramento, 109-85, on Monday.
To those who would like to attribute the performance to the changed vibe inside the Nets’ locker room, with the sulking superstar James Harden having been dealt to Philadelphia alongside forward Paul Millsap last week for a package of Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round draft picks, calm down.
The Nets (30-27) just happened to run into the right team on the right night with the right officiating crew. It’s a fairly common occurrence in the NBA when one team just doesn’t have it. The Kings shot 34% from the floor, including 26% on mostly (32 of 35 attempts, per NBA.com) wide-open three-pointers, and completed about as many passes to the fans with good seats at Barclays Center as they did to Domantas Sabonis in the post where he does his most damage.
Such ineptitude allowed Brooklyn to thrive while star-less, as Kevin Durant is expected to remain out until after the All-Star break with an MCL sprain, Simmons just started ramping up his conditioning from not playing for about eight months, and Kyrie Irving is still banished from New York City venues while unvaccinated for COVID-19.
Don’t get me wrong--newcomers Curry and Drummond--plus the return of center LaMarcus Aldridge from an ankle injury--absolutely provided boosts (53 combined points), especially in the Nets’ energetic first quarter when Brooklyn jumped out to a 19-point lead. The ball movement was crisper without Harden pounding the rock for 15 seconds every possession.
However, I’m not sure how sustainable their offense will be without a true shot creator during their final two games before the real cavalry jumps into the fray. When Sacramento started top-locking Curry and Patty Mills, preventing the easy dribble handoffs and screens that freed them up for catch-and-shoot opportunities, the Nets had problems. I’d expect that the Knicks, Brooklyn’s next opponent on Wednesday, noticed.
To me, the most promising development from Monday night was the all-around effort from multi-tasker Bruce Brown, who posted his best statistical outing of the season with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals, and 3 blocks (two short of a neat 5x5).
It hasn’t been a season of much note for Brown, who re-signed with Brooklyn as a free agent over the summer after proving his value as a perimeter defender/roll man last season. Unfortunately, he’s made more of an impact on Brooklyn off the court through his public service announcements that run constantly on the Yes Network to push COVID-19 vaccines, even if his teammate Irving has refused to take heed.
Among the issues with Brown is when he strays from his lane. He’s never going to be a lights-out three-point shooter and he sometimes plays as if he believes he’s 7-feet tall, not 6-foot 4, so shot selection becomes paramount if he wants to regain the trust of Nets Head Coach Steve Nash.
Brown mostly stayed within his limitations on Monday, hitting on 8-of-12 field goal attempts, including his only three-point try. Since the Nets lacked a true point guard among their active players, equally important was the way he pushed the pace to set up Brooklyn’s offense, allowing Curry and Mills to play more off the ball.
Still, defense is where Brown earns his money. With DeAndre’ Bembry waived in the wake of the blockbuster trade, Brown is the Nets’ only solid-perimeter defender, at least until Simmons steps on the court and shows he hasn’t lost anything to rust. Brown’s tenacity won’t let him die on ball screens—he’ll fight to get over the top in an attempt to at least contest a pick-and-roll ballhandler’s shot from a different angle.
The numbers suggest it’s been working, as Brown has been holding pick-and-roll ballhandlers to an effective field goal percentage of 41.2%, according to NBA.com, the 18th best mark in the league this season among the 130 players who have been put in at least 100 pick-and-roll situations. That metric will become more important going forward when the Nets start playing more drop coverage instead of constantly switching pick-and-rolls.
For most of Monday, Brown hounded Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, no easy assignment. Per NBA.com, Fox, who finished with 26 points, went 3-for-6 with two turnovers when Brown was the closest defender. Brown was terrific at staying on Fox’s shooting hand without fouling, blocking his shot once.
Brown proved last season he can also tough it out on D in big spots, holding Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday to a combined 20-for-64 (31%) shooting as the closest defender during Brooklyn’s seven-game loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
That effort seemed to bode well for Brown for 2021-22, but the combination of his own shooting inefficiencies, especially on his patented floaters (34% on non-restricted area attempts versus 48% last season) and the sheer quantity of offensive zeros on the Nets roster have resulted in inconsistent minutes from game-to-game, and an overall disappointing season to date.
Furthermore, with Simmons also a non-threat from outside the paint, Brown won’t be able to fit into the Nets’ starting five when they welcome everyone back. He’ll have to fight for playing time off the bench alongside all of Brooklyn’s mighty mites like Mills and rookie Cam Thomas.
So while the Nets needed a game like Monday’s to end their skid, Brown REALLY needed it to re-stake his claim in the team’s rotation.