Nets Rout Of First-Place Bulls More Of A Template Than A Statement
As Kevin Durant noted after the Nets’ 138-112 rout in their marquee matchup at Eastern Conference-leading Chicago on Wednesday, such a whupping didn’t necessarily send a statement to the rest of the NBA. Though it must have felt good for the Nets to get off the schneid with their first win in nine tries against a team in the top four of their respective conferences, any January victory is only as solid as the next game’s performance.
However, Wednesday’s effort should provide a useful template for Brooklyn as a reminder for how they’ll have to play in order to compete at the higher levels going forward. The so-called “Scary Hours” become downright terrifying for opponents any time Brooklyn decides to play complementary basketball.
It can’t be just about scoring. In Wednesday’s case, the Nets and the Bulls each possessed fantastic shot-makers. For two-plus quarters, the two teams were engaged in a modern-day shootout, with Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine matching the efficiency of Nets stars James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Durant.
The turning point, though, came midway through the third quarter when, with the Nets up, 80-75, they started to turn the screws on Chicago’s offense. Veterans Blake Griffin, DeAndre’ Bembry and Patty Mills came off Brooklyn’s bench and what ensued was perhaps the most fabulous stretch of basketball we’ve seen from this team all season.
The Nets closed the quarter with a 21-4 run that they extended to a 45-15 knockout blow before Nash called off his dogs with over six minutes remaining in the contest.
You could feel the tone of the game instantly change when the Nets ramped up their physicality and hustle, elements that had been mostly missing in action during an ugly stretch that saw Brooklyn lose five of its previous seven games. Griffin and Bembry were defensive menaces, poking the ball away repeatedly from Chicago’s primary weapons. I’m not buying NBA.com’s count of just five deflections between the two—the total had to be in double digits.
Even when the Nets were comfortably ahead at the start of the fourth quarter, they kept their foot on the Bulls’ necks instead of easing up like they had often done throughout this season. In a minute span, Brooklyn came up with three consecutive steals that transitioned into seven points to push the lead to 34 points. You may have seen the “double dive” sequence, where Griffin disrupted LaVine as he turned the corner on a high pick-and-roll, knocking the ball to midcourt where Bembry hit the floor between two Bulls so he could roll it forward. Griffin then raced into the frontcourt and dove head first to rip the loose ball away from LaVine. From his back as he was sliding, Griffin cogently flipped the ball to Kessler Edwards so he could complete the play with a lefty dunk. Two Bulls possessions later, Griffin and Mills each took to the floor to force another turnover. Mills then picked himself up and sprinted to the three-point line, where Bembry casually found him with a behind-the-back pass. Mills’ three-pointer put Brooklyn ahead, 113-79 with 10 minutes left.
The Nets entered the match ranked 21st in steals per game (7.1). The Bulls, the 7th-cleanest team in the league in terms of turnovers per game, coughed it up 17 times on Wednesday, 11 of them of the live-ball variety.
Edwards, who led the way with three steals to go along with his 9 points and 1 block, and fellow rookie Day’Ron Sharpe (20 points, 7 rebounds) had quite an evening, acquitting themselves well in their first starting assignments alongside the Big 3, which, on the one-year anniversary of the Harden trade from Houston, took the court together for just the 16th time (the Nets are 13-3, including playoffs).
Sometimes Nets fans can’t help but feel like they’re being punked when they’ve gotten their first gander at some of Head Coach Steve Nash’s recent starting lineups, like he’s been picking guys like Edwards, Sharpe, and rookie two-way player David Duke Jr. out of a hat. Well, it turned out that Edwards was a much more inspired choice for the wing defender slot than Duke Jr., as the Pepperdine product’s length and floor-spacing ability meshed much more easily with the stars. Meanwhile, Sharpe’s hands and hunger were a refreshing change from injured center Nic Claxton, even if Sharpe is nowhere near the defensive demon.
Of course, playing rookies comes with downsides from being prone to mistakes. Sharpe fouled out in just 22 minutes of action while Edwards was guilty of several mental errors that led to Bulls scores. The Nets played the Bulls even during the 15 minutes the two shared the court, per NBA.com.
It turned out that the Nets (26-14) needed a push from their gritty veterans in the supporting cast to avoid getting swept by Chicago in the three-game season series. There’s a tendency to undervalue those types of contributions, particularly in Griffin’s case while he has endured a shooting slump. However, they are essential for the Nets to go from a fashionable choice to win an NBA title to one that can actually win it.