Did No One Tell The Nets That The Preseason Was Over?
You would have thought from the trappings and pregame festivities that the Nets understood that Wednesday night’s contest against rapidly ascending New Orleans was one that counted and not exhibition No. 5.
But that’s not how it played out, as the Pelicans silenced the Barclays Center sellout crowd by jumping out to a 20-4 lead and cruised to a 130-108 victory on opening night for both clubs. Oh, the Nets cut into the deficit to make it an 8-point game at halftime, but then Head Coach Steve Nash brought out the same five-man unit that got mashed in the first quarter to start the second half. Take a wild guess what happened.
The Nets were no match for the physically imposing Pelicans and didn’t do the little things, like boxing out, to mitigate their disadvantage. New Orleans grabbed nearly 43% of their missed shots, per NBA.com, turning them into 36 second-chance points. For comparison purposes, Memphis’ average of 18.7 second-chance points per game led the NBA last season.
Of course, the first three games on Brooklyn’s schedule happen to be against the top three teams in the category from last season, with second-place Toronto coming to town on Friday before the Nets travel to Memphis on Monday. So, if you think Wednesday night was just a one-off, be forewarned.
And for those who assumed that the addition of Ben Simmons into the mix would solve Brooklyn’s deficiencies in this area (they surrendered the 9th most second-chance points last season), the versatile six-foot 10 Simmons needs to stay on the court first. He fouled out in 23 minutes of action on Wednesday.
In any event, the Nets were actually worse on the defensive glass when Simmons was on the floor (a grotesque 51.5% defensive rebounding percentage). Nor was he all that effective in any aspect, reluctant to drive and/or shoot, missing both his free throw attempts, and committing three turnovers. Nash attributed Simmons’ erratic performance to rust from having not played in nearly 16 months due to mental health issues in Philadelphia and, after getting sent to Brooklyn in February in the James Harden blockbuster, a back injury during his ramp-up that eventually required microdiscectomy surgery.
But do you know who else hasn’t played since May 2021? That would be Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, who looked like the same brute force he was before his broken foot, scoring 25 points in 30 minutes on Wednesday. Funny how Nash didn’t mention “rust” when speaking about Williamson in his postgame remarks minutes after offering Simmons an unlimited set of mulligans.
That’s because the Simmons play was always going to be an experiment, testing whether his elite defense and passing would offset the damage he does to offenses because of his inability to develop a perimeter shot. Since Brooklyn also utilizes centers who don’t space the floor either, call me skeptical that it will work.
I’m not going to draw a conclusion based on one game, but the results from Wednesday at least underscore why my theory could eventually prove to be valid. In just under 15 minutes of Simmons sharing the court with starting center Nic Claxton, the Nets were outscored, 36-18. With Simmons and backup center Day’Ron Sharpe, it was 26-17 in the Pelicans’ favor in about 8 minutes together. Every time Nets stars Kevin Durant, who almost single-handedly willed Brooklyn back into the game during the second quarter, or Kyrie Irving looked to attack, they were enveloped by Pelicans, some of whom could slough off the Nets’ non-shooters without consequence to help protect the paint.
By the way, anyone put out a missing person’s report on Nets big man Markieff Morris? The 6-foot 9 free agent acquisition seemed to be thriving playing as a four in the final two preseason games versus Milwaukee and Minnesota. He started the second quarter with Claxton manning the middle, ran for about three minutes, during which he knocked down a corner three-pointer (Brooklyn had been 0-for-8 from deep to that point), and was never heard from again. I mean, he was brought in for his physicality, toughness, and ability to space the floor. Too bad Nash didn’t think his club had any need for any of that on Wednesday, right?
Snark aside, it was sickening watching New Orleans win most of the battles for the rights to the basketball. Even when Brooklyn had enough bodies around the rim, a Pelican would swoop in unimpeded to snatch the rebound. It’s tough to win in this league when the compete levels are so one-sided.
Looking back, maybe Wednesday’s effort wouldn’t have even been up to snuff for a preseason game.