With Nets Getting Healthy, Nash May Soon Be Facing An Identity Crisis
One of the pleasures of watching the Nets win six of seven games heading into Thursday’s showdown with rival Philadelphia was how they managed to develop an identity while dealing with an overwhelming COVID-19 outbreak within the team.
The Nets seemed to embrace the challenges that saw James Harden and then Kevin Durant forced into the league’s health and safety protocols along with as many as 8 of their teammates. Sweet-shooting wing Joe Harris has been out since November 14 with a left ankle injury and, of course, still unvaccinated superstar guard Kyrie Irving was just allowed back into the Nets practice facility on Wednesday to ramp up for his new road games-only gig after he too got infected last week.
Still, the Nets fought and clawed their way into the Eastern Conference’s top seed without Nash knowing who would be available on a given day. And they did it the Brooklyn Way, with grit and toughness, especially when the games were on the line in fourth quarters.
Now that all of their infected players save for rookie two-way guy Kessler Edwards are eligible for action, Brooklyn Head Coach Steve Nash seems to be back at square one from earlier in the season, where he must experiment to figure out how to integrate all his pieces while hoping he can maintain that identity.
Though it was just one game in a long journey, that’s what made Brooklyn’s 110-102 loss to the visiting Sixers somewhat disappointing. Simply put, Philadelphia wanted it more. They were the aggressors, hitting first and playing physical. They were the ones getting their hands on balls more often and coming away with the majority of those that were 50/50. When the Nets threatened to pull away behind Durant’s brilliance late in the third quarter, the Sixers pushed back, with reserve Georges Niang spearheading the comeback with a pair of three-pointers off second-chance opportunities where the Nets got lazy.
Nash went with a mish-mosh of lineups to counter Philadelphia’s unstoppable force in the middle Joel Embiid, starting a Twin Towers pairing of LaMarcus Aldridge and Nic Claxton. While the Nets were in positive territory for the game using that two-man lineup, they got run over down the stretch.
In my view, the only reason for Nash to go that route was so that Claxton could use his length to double-team Embiid when he ventured into the paint. That could only work if Claxton’s main assignment was bricklaying Sixers wing Matisse Thybulle (27.5% from three-point territories), not 19 ppg scorer Tobias Harris. So, while Claxton locked Harris up for most of the night (9 points on 4-for-14 shooting), Embiid was unstoppable, pouring in 34 points in 32 minutes, including the go-ahead and-1 through a barely-resisting Aldridge with 3:14 remaining.
On ensuing Sixers possessions when the Nets sent an extra defender at Embiid, instead of leaving Thybulle open on the perimeter, they gave guard Tyrese Maxey free looks on the weak side. He made them pay and then Embiid, much to his trash-talking delight, finished off the scoring by outworking two Nets for an offensive rebound putback.
Going into Thursday’s contest, the Nets sported the league’s fifth-best defensive rating for the month at 108 points allowed per 100 possessions. It was no accident, because the roster depletion forced Nash to use players who got after it--like Bruce Brown, DeAndre’ Bembry, James Johnson, and Claxton, not to mention Edwards and fellow two-way player David Duke Jr.—more than he ever planned.
With Aldridge returning into the starting lineup on Thursday, the Nets defense was bound to take a hit, even if no one else on the roster could have handled Embiid significantly better. On any other night, though, you just have to hope Aldridge can produce enough offense to make up for his speed limitations on the other end.
So, what’s going to happen when Irving and Harris, neither of whom have stellar defensive reputations, rejoins a group that already features Aldridge and Harden, who has to be hidden on defense? The next opportunity for Irving to make his season debut will be January 6 in Indiana, if he’s satisfied with his ramp-up, while Harris’ return-to-play timeline was initially reported to be four-to-eight weeks, which could put him back on the court sometime later in the month.
Nash, who has done a terrific job in the face of all this adversity, has much to consider in this next week or two. A starting five (on the road) of KD, Harden, Irving, Harris, and Aldridge will be incredibly difficult for any opponent to contain, but can they get enough stops to win the tight games in the postseason? Will they be able to match their opponent’s physicality on the boards? Will they make the other hustle plays to win back possessions?
The shorthanded group did all that, which allowed them to play with enough pace to help them offset their shooting deficiencies. It wasn’t always the prettiest basketball, but I found it incredibly fun to watch.
Obviously, you’re not winning an NBA Championship giving major minutes to all those aforementioned grinders. Stars shine in the playoffs. However, the trick is to get those stars to play with a grinder’s mentality, to incorporate those traits into a new and better identity.
That (and staying healthy!) is what the rest of this Nets season in the new calendar year will be about.
May all of you have a Happy and Healthy New Year.