Crunch-Time Combo Of Irving’s Magic And Effective Defense Give Nets Sorely-Needed Win
Kyrie Irving proved Charles Barkley wrong,
Barkley, in his clown show role as the hyperbolic TNT studio analyst, predicted that “the Nets will not win another game without (superstar forward Kevin Durant)” at halftime of Brooklyn’s 117-112 loss at injury-riddled Phoenix on Thursday night.
Well, it took Irving going off for 48 points, but the Nets extinguished their four-game losing streak, all with Durant absent due to an MCL sprain in his right knee, by upsetting Utah, 117-106, in Friday’s back-to-back.
Not to diminish Irving’s all-around contributions—11 rebounds, 6 assists (including a heady feed to an open Seth Curry in the right corner for a three-pointer that put Brooklyn up by nine points with 51 seconds remaining), four steals, and two charges drawn—but it actually took more than that.
Specifically, the Nets played one of their better defensive games of the season against a Utah squad that entered the contest as the NBA’s fourth-most efficient offense, averaging 116.5 points per 100 possessions. In the last three minutes on Friday night, the Jazz went 1-for-5 from the floor with a turnover as the Nets broke open a tie game with a 15-4 run.
Center Nic Claxton had a pair of blocks in that stretch to extend his streak to 11 consecutive games with at least three swats, tying the franchise record. Royce O’Neale played physically without fouling in his first game against his former teammates since the offseason trade to Brooklyn, particularly when matched up with Utah’s shifty guard Jordan Clarkson. And after Utah tortured the Nets on the offensive glass for the first three quarters, Brooklyn finished their defensive possessions with rebounds in crunch time, with Irving grabbing five boards in the last three minutes.
Give Nets Head Coach Jacque Vaughn credit for mixing in his 1-2-2 zone in the second half (after frustrating me by waiting until it was too late the night before in Phoenix, where the Nets’ comeback from 20 points down in the fourth quarter fell shot), which allowed Claxton to stay closer to the basket as a shot-altering rim protector. It also might have helped the team’s communication, which was too often lacking in their base man-to-man switching system earlier in the game.
The improved defense led to early offense, with Irving and Curry each taking advantage by knocking down two three-pointers apiece in the closing run. Irving poured in 21 fourth-quarter points for the second consecutive night, not an easy task when coming off a chased game, though any fatigue factor might have been offset by his rediscovering his stroke in Thursday’s final frame—he had missed 41 of his previous 60 field goal attempts.
There’s still an issue with the non-Kyrie minutes at the end of the first and third quarters—the Nets were outscored 25-13 on Friday. Curry struggled in the lead guard role while Cam Thomas flubbed an opportunity to build on his 15-point effort in Phoenix.
Most distressing was Vaughn’s inability to unlock forward T.J. Warren, who was expected to play a larger scoring role with KD out. After playing just 7:30 in Phoenix, Warren tallied a mere 5 points in 17:35 of undistinguished playing time.
I get that patience is required for Warren to get back to a form close to where he was before foot injuries kept him out of action for the previous two seasons, but Vaughn needs to explain why he has him standing in the corners while Yuta Watanabe, whose stellar three-point shooting is regressing to his mean (2-for-his-last-8 from deep since Durant’s injury) and is not as effective at the other levels, is getting more touches around the key. It would seem an easy flip to give Warren, who can be a walking bucket, a chance to get into a rhythm.
On the plus side, the Nets outscored Utah, 70-51, in the 26 minutes Claxton was paired with Ben Simmons, a second non-shooter whose combined presence was expected to stifle the offense. The night after he was ejected for arguing his fifth foul in the third quarter, Simmons was able to stay on the floor for 10 fourth quarter minutes in Utah, only the third time he has reached that total in his 34 games this season. His availability down the stretch of a tight game, while risky due to his foul shooting mental block, helped the Nets defend the paint in the fourth quarter—and he snatched six defensive rebounds in the process.
It can’t be understated how important Friday night’s victory was. Taking a five-game losing streak into the next two showdowns on the road in Golden State and Philadelphia could have initiated a quicksand effect, which was happened a year ago when Durant was felled by a left knee injury.
Those Nets lost 11 games in a row and what was once a promising season went off the rails. James Harden begged out, forcing a trade to Philly for Simmons and Curry, and the Nets then needed to scratch and claw just to host a play-in game before their ignominious four-game sweep by Boston in the first round of the 2022 playoffs.
Barkley was betting (figuratively or literally—who knows with him?) that it would happen again. As poorly as the Nets had played to that point, I can’t say I’m shocked that he needs to eat those words.
Now we’ll see if this was a one-off or if the Nets figured out how they have to play to win games without their MVP.