Nets Overemphasis On Three-Pointers Turned Philly Into Brick City
The Nets set a record for the highest effective field goal percentage in a playoff loss during Saturday’s Game 1 at Philadelphia with a scorching 65%. Brooklyn shot 55.7% from the floor overall, including 44.8% on three-pointers.
The offense suffered from 20 turnovers, but that wasn’t the only stat that perturbed Nets Head Coach Jacque Vaughn after the 121-101 defeat. You see, the Nets attempted only 29 3s, which wasn’t good enough. According to Vaughn, the magic three-point number was at least 40.
So, the Nets took the Wells Fargo Center court for Game 2 on Monday night and hoisted 42 3s. I would concur with Vaughn that a majority were quality looks. Much better, right?
Except the object of basketball is to put the ball through the hoop. Any way, any how. Brooklyn misfired on 29 of those 42 3s and dropped a 96-84 decision to fall behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
The Nets wasted a most inspired defensive performance, holding Sixers stars Joel Embiid and James Harden to a combined 28 points on 9-for-24 shooting with 13 turnovers. They did it with Nic Claxton, their only true big man, on the floor for about 21 of the 48 minutes.
You wouldn’t think that going small against the Sixers MVP candidate would be effective, but the Nets, with the help of more varied and harder double teams, posted better defensive ratings with Royce O’Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith, both of whom barely exceed the height of Embiid’s shoulders, as the de facto five than with Claxton on the court.
If only the Nets could have been as multiple and flexible on the offensive end. In Game 1, it was. Their shot profile showed an array of locations, with 38 points in the paint on 30 attempts, 39 points on 29 3s, 10 free throws on 15 trips to the line, and 14 points on 11 mid-range field goal attempts, per NBA.com. Again, the self-inflicted wounds of turnovers and offensive rebounds allowed doomed them.
On Monday night, Brooklyn fared better in the hustle categories, at least until the contest got out of hand in the fourth quarter when the weight of their offensive ineptitude overwhelmed them. This game, though, was lost because they couldn’t shoot straight.
Over half of Brooklyn’s attempts on Monday came from behind the arc. Once they saw how off the Nets were from deep on this night, Philly pretty much baited them into taking more by going to a zone defense in the second half. Other than Cam Johnson, who sparked the Nets to a 49-44 halftime lead by scoring 22 of his team-high 28 points, it was Brick City.
It shouldn’t have been that hard, especially when the Nets spaced the floor with Claxton on the bench, for Brooklyn to continue with the drive-and-kick game that was more successful in the first half (14 assists on 17 made field goals) against Philadelphia’s standard zone. Unfortunately, they got lulled into too much perimeter passing and too little attacking of the middle seams with passses or penetration.
Mikal Bridges, Brooklyn’s best three-level scorer, took nine free throws in the first half and none thereafter. Maybe the wear and tear from all the banging for position against Embiid contributed to O’Neale and Finney-Smith going a combined 1-for-8 from deep after the break. And as the point guard, Spencer Dinwiddie needed to get his teammates into the offense a lot quicker. As AP reporter Brian Mahoney tweeted, it’s hard for the Nets to play at Vaughn’s preferred fast pace if Dinwiddie dribbles every possession to under 10 seconds on the shot clock. No wonder so many of them ended with late-clock chucks, no matter how open the look.
When I heard Vaughn keep pressing about his three-point attempt mandate before the game, I knew it wouldn’t end well. The problem with it is that games are played by human beings, not computers. Sometimes, the long ball isn’t working. So how about moving closer, or attacking the basket to draw a foul? Dinwiddie was really the only Net to try to get to the rim in the second half.
As I wrote earlier in the season, the analytics worshipping reeks of the Kenny Atkinson era, when Vaughn was on the staff as an assistant coach. That may have been fine back then for a developing program with no shot at competing in the postseason, but not for a single playoff game in 2023.
It’s a copout to dismiss Monday’s loss to simply missing shots, as if there were no alternatives. Though the next two games are at Barclays Center, starting with Thursday’s Game 3, this was probably the game Brooklyn could have stolen to make this an interesting series.
Another miss.
After a good first half the second was a stinker to be sure. Dinwiddie holding the ball way too long and with everyone standing around waiting and waiting ....he or another PG needs to make better and quicker decisions.
That said to me the Nets looked tired the second half.....a clear indication is the 'shots not falling'. They also looked tired the second half of the first game. JV could expand the bench and literally use more players who before the trade had credible playing time ....Yuta, Mills, CT, Sharpe etc . Bring in fresh legs and more energy to be able to play viable 4 quarters of efficient bb with more ball movement.