For The Typically Predictable Nets, Variety Must Be The Spice Of Playoff Defense Versus Heavily-Favored Sixers
Sunday’s Nets/Sixers matchup at Barclays Center was never intended to function as a first-round playoff preview. With both teams locked into their seeds for the regular season finale, neither was willing to risk injury to a rotation member or put playoff strategies on tape to obtain an immaterial result in a game that had a pickup feel.
Good thing, too, for the Nets. Since no one of consequence participated (Nets leading scorer Mikal Bridges played four seconds, committed a foul, and exited to maintain his consecutive games streak that included 83 games this season), Philadelphia’s 134-105 thrashing will bear no resemblance to what will transpire on the court for Saturday’s Game 1 at Wells Fargo Center.
Then again, there is a more than a decent chance that the upcoming best-of-seven series will be similarly one-sided. While the Nets (45-37) played sub-.500 basketball following the trades of superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in advance of the February 9 deadline, winning just enough games to barely avoid the play-in round, Philly has been fairly consistent in fashioning the NBA’s third-best mark (54-28) this season.
Philadelphia’s Big Two of Joel Embiid and James Harden became the first pair of teammates to capture the league scoring and assist crowns, respectively, in the same season in 41 years, per ESPN, and, in the 51 games when both have been active, the Sixers went 34-17, according to NBA.com. The Sixers’ projected starting five of Embiid, Harden, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, and P.J. Tucker sports the league’s third-highest net rating at plus-12.5 (125 minutes and 30 games minimum).
As I’ve posted previously, the Nets will have no shot at competing at Philly’s level if they engage in shootouts. This team can only win with stout defense. Their magic number seems to be basketball-reference.com’s league average score of 114.7 points per game. Since Irving’s last game on February 1, the final tally shows that the Nets were 2-13 in games where they surrendered more points than the above average and 12-4 (including the game in Minnesota that was tied at 114-114 after four quarters before the Nets won in overtime) when Brooklyn’s defense was stingier.
Unfortunately, the Nets’ foundational switching scheme isn’t ideal for defending the Sixers two-man game between Embiid and Harden. The last thing Brooklyn needs is for Embiid to bully his way inside on smaller defenders—he’s more than a handful to deal with for traditional bigs. Embiid averaged 11.7 free throw attempts per game this season, bettered only by Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. It’s not like the Nets can spread out the fouls among a host of bodies either—Nic Claxton is their sole true center who has earned playoff rotation minutes. Sorry, but Day’Ron Sharpe is just not ready for prime time.
What can the Nets do then if they’re susceptible to getting demolished playing straight up? Here are some suggestions:
1) Get in the zone
Having escaped the play-in games, Nets Head Coach Jacque Vaughn has all week to scheme up and teach new defensive tricks. I believe a zone has to be part of the equation. As with any defense, there are holes where a savvy opponent can drive a truck through. Inside a zone, it’s more difficult for defenders to find bodies to box out and the Nets, the league’s second-worst defensive rebounding percentage team, can ill afford to extend Sixers possessions by spewing leaks on the glass. In this series, the Nets have to be wary of Tucker, who is adept at sneaking in from the corners to wreak havoc on the boards. Another downside of zones is the potential to surrender more clean three-point looks than normal. However, a zone will allow Claxton to stay closer to the rim instead of chasing pick-and-roll ballhandlers on the perimeter after switches, which leaves Brooklyn even more vulnerable on the boards. Vaughn sometimes employed a 1-2-2 zone this season, mostly on those nights where he knew his club would be overmatched due to injuries/load management (though not on Sunday for the above reasons). Per recent beat writer reports, Vaughn tends to focus his defense on the opponent’s top gun, which often leaves secondary scorers freer to exploit openings. As such, he may opt to live and die at the strokes of Philly’s three-point shooters like Harden, Harris, Maxey, Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, and Georges Niang rather than let Embiid run amok through the paint. It will be imperative for Vaughn to design more of a matchup concept so that simple overloads or cuts don’t do more damage than if they had just stayed with their switch-everything mantra.
2) Claxton as free safety
As strong a defensive performance as Claxton has put forth, no team has been effective in containing Embiid with just one man this season—and let’s not understate the listed 65 pounds he’ll have on Claxton too. In an earlier meeting with Milwaukee, the Nets employed an atypical tactic whereby wing Dorian Finney-Smith was the primary defender on Antetokounmpo and Claxton acted more like a lurker as a weakside helper ready to double team the ball at will. Not that it was 100% effective, but it gave the Bucks a different look and the undermanned Nets stayed close for three quarters. In this case, the setup would have Claxton start on Tucker. On Embiid screens, Finney-Smith would switch onto the Sixers ballhandler per usual. Meanwhile, from his weakside station, Claxton would be on notice to seamlessly scram switch out the smaller Nets defender who was screened. When the Sixers run their isolation plays for Embiid, the goal would then be to make him a passer across the court as Claxton, the league’s second-most proficient shot blocker, cheats inside like an NFL free safety. Again, Brooklyn would have to be on high alert for cuts and offensive rebound crashers.
3) Blitz!
When the dust settled from the KD/Kyrie trades, many folks marveled at the new group’s makeup on paper, particularly the bevy of wing defenders acquired. The Nets supposedly got longer, more athletic, and hence were expected to become more of a defensive force. It just didn’t happen. They went from 20th in the league in turnovers forced per game to 16th in the 27 games thereafter. The team’s defensive rating actually rose a point per 100 possessions in dropping from 13th to 16th in the category. Integration error probably played a role in the underperformance related to the expectations, but perhaps it was also because of the team’s conservative defensive principles. It seems the predictable switching isn’t so conducive to forcing opponent turnovers. It was no different than under prior Head Coach Steve Nash the past two seasons. The Sixers aren’t a turnover-prone team—they were virtually tied with Brooklyn for 13th place in turnovers committed per game this season—but we have seen Harden and Embiid get careless with the ball at times. What if Brooklyn could surprise them with selective blitzes on screens, using their long arms to force the ballhandler into throwing up some ducks ripe for the picking? It would require a lot more activity than we’ve seen from a Nets squad that will probably go no more than eight deep in the rotation. Therefore, “48 Minutes of Hell” is not a realistic plan. But Eight Minutes of Hell? Why not? If a fossilized Kevin Garnett could blitz and recover to/from halfcourt for the 2014 Nets in the postseason, so could the soon-to-be 24-year old Claxton. When it comes to this time of year, variety is the spice of playoff defense.