New-Look Nets Have Become Overly Reliant On The Kindness Of Their Opposition
My Hill To Die On: Claxton > Allen
The Nets’ four-game losing streak should come with a label that is a play on what one sees on a vehicle’s side mirror: The final margins on the scoreboard are closer than what they represent.
Brooklyn (39-33), whose lead over seventh-place Miami in the Eastern Conference standings was reduced to a half-game following Tuesday night’s 115-109 defeat to Cleveland in the first of a two-game set at Barclays Center, has lost these last four games by an aggregate of 31 points.
You’d think that maybe the Nets were in position to steal at least one of those contests given the final spreads. You’d be wrong.
The Nets did not hold a lead in the fourth quarter in any of those games. In the second halves, the best they could do was shave deficits to more reasonable figures. On Tuesday, Brooklyn went on a 23-6 run to cut Cleveland’s 22-point lead down to five points—but with only 16 seconds remining. Similarly, Brooklyn closed Sunday’s home game versus Denver with a 26-10 run. Did it matter? No, because it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome another 22-point hole. Though the fourth quarter deficits never reached 20-plus points in the losses to Sacramento and Oklahoma City, Brooklyn was never really in either of them during crunch time.
The main conclusion I can draw as to who these post-apocalyptic Nets have been in the 17 games since the trades of superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving is another familiar adaptation of a literary phrase: They have been relying on the kindness of strangers--their opposition.
The Nets have feasted when their opponents either aren’t engaged or take their feet off the pedal. Boston pretty much stopped playing hard in the second half of Brooklyn’s 28-point comeback victory on March 3. In their most recent wins, at Minnesota and Denver, you have to wonder how in the world this Brooklyn squad—one that can’t shoot straight--could put up over 120 points other than if they were disrespected.
On Tuesday, the Cavs did not come out of the tunnel with the proper mindset and fell behind, 30-23. That’s obviously not who they are—the NBA’s best defensive team as measured by NBA.com’s points allowed per 100 possessions, You could see their emphasis on defensive effort thereafter, as Brooklyn went through several cold spells where they couldn’t buy a bucket. The Cavs’ defense at the beginning of the third quarter looked like an NBA version of the Chicago Bears, where the Nets couldn’t gain even a yard of penetration off their bounces.
With the game in hand in the fourth quarter, the Cavs let up. They gifted Brooklyn 14 free throw attempts and were outrebounded, 11-1, on their DEFENSIVE backboards, which translated into 12 Nets second chance points. Bear in mind that the Nets entered the contest averaging a league-low 10.5 second chance points PER GAME.
You want to give the Nets credit for usually playing hard until the final buzzer? Fine, just don’t believe these comebacks have any carryover effect. This is a bad team for all the reasons I have laid out in prior posts. General Manager Sean Marks put his Head Coach Jacque Vaughn in an awful spot with almost no practice time to recreate the wheel for his four new starters.
With ten games remaining, starting with Thursday’s rematch versus the Cavs, the Nets might be able to sneak up on a few of their opponents to finish at or a little above .500.
That probably won’t be enough to secure a top six seed in the East, forcing Brooklyn into the play-in round, which won’t be a picnic. Whoever they face will be playing hard.
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I don’t care what Tuesday’s stats said or the comparative accolades given to each player: I will die on the hill that I’d rather have Nic Claxton than Jarrett Allen playing center for the Nets.
Allen, who was traded by Brooklyn to Cleveland two years ago (it seems like it was way more, doesn’t it?) in the James Harden blockbuster, is one year older and two seasons more experienced than Claxton. Both players are listed as 6-foot 11, with Allen about 20 pounds heavier.
They have similar styles and production results—both are known for their defense, be it rim protection or switchability, and score primarily from areas close to the basket. Claxton has higher blocked shot numbers while Allen is a much better free throw shooter. Other than that, the other categories are very close.
Yet I’m not sure that the two players are looked at as equals, especially after Allen was generously bequeathed an All-Star berth last season. That could be because Claxton has played more minutes this season than in his first three seasons combined, so he may have to prove himself further to garner that level of appreciation.
From my eyes, though, I give Claxton the edge. I still cringed when I saw Allen make the same mistakes on Tuesday that he did when he was a young pup in Brooklyn. Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie was joking about his former teammate when he said that no one in Brooklyn thinks Allen is a good rebounder, but (checks box score, does double-take) the Nets, who rarely outrebound anyone, won Tuesday’s board battle by 15 despite Allen’s 14 rebounds.
Claxton is significantly more skilled with the ball in his hands, able to take it coast-to-coast and finish around the rim in a variety of fashions, as opposed to Allen, who is liable to fumble it in his cast-iron hands driving in from the foul line.
Some have alleged that Nets management was willing to move on from Allen, who secured a five-year, $100 million commitment from Cleveland the ensuing offseason, because they viewed Claxton as not just a capable replacement at a much cheaper cost, but as a potential upgrade.
Claxton will likely command a big raise from $8.75 million when his contract expires after the 2023-24 season, but in this case, I stand with the Nets on their initial call.