It's easy to overreact to the first game of the season. The Milwaukee Bucks torched the Brooklyn Nets, with Steve Nash's team looking like it's going to have lots of problems in the season's early going. Of course, all of the narratives might get flipped on their heads in a few hours after the Nets take on the Ben Simmons-less Sixers.

We looked at a few things the Nets might look to do to bounce back from their season-opening defeat. Now let's predict some adjustments Nash might make in tackling his team's next opponent.

Nicolas Claxton will be less of an offensive focal point

In game one it seemed at times as if Brooklyn was hyper-focused on getting Claxton the ball in the paint. The athletic big man got more playing time than many expected and offered a mixed bag. He logged 12 points on 6-9 from the field to go with 7 boards in 24 minutes, drawing the start.

At times it looked like James Harden in particular had resolved to get him a handful of buckets:

But as mentioned, the results were mixed.

Claxton may net a similar amount of minutes on Friday. But it seems likely the team won't be quite as focused on getting him lobs out of high-screen action as they were in Milwaukee. Perhaps with so many lob attempts on film, knowing Doc Rivers' team will be expecting that, the Nets should deploy Claxton as a decoy then set up Joe Harris for a jump shot.

Here was how that action looked in preseason:

Bruce Brown gets some non-garbage time minutes

After the loss to the Bucks, Nash was asked about a key rotation player from 2021 in Brown. Surprisingly, Brown did not get into the game before garbage time Tuesday.

Here was what Nash had to say, courtesy of Brian Lewis fromThe New York Post:

“He’s definitely going to play for us, he’s definitely going to be a part of what we do. I just think right now we’re looking at exploring some other things until we understand what we have. With Bruce, I know what we got.”

It might be a harsh interpretation but it sounds almost as if Nash is saying, “Brown is who he is, and I'm looking for something different.” Otherwise, why not play Brown more minutes from the jump? Brown is not a player who spaces the floor. For all of the toughness and grit he brings to a game, he isn't even a career 30 percent three-point shooter.

The value of floor spacing matters, and Nash,  one of the game's best shooters ever, knows it. 

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All of that being said, even with these comments in mind, if this game is close the Nets may turn to Brown. As soon as the nets needs to slow down a perimeter threat or crash the glass, Brown will likely hear his number called.

Blake Griffin sees more burn

The name of the game tonight will be to slow down Embiid. LaMarcus Aldridge only played five games for the Nets last season. Claxton is a third-year big who looks barely 220 pounds soaking wet. Paul Millsap wasn't in the rotation last game. That leaves Griffin as the biggest and most dependable body to match up with Embiid.

Of course the Nets will want to double-team the reigning MVP runner-up. Forcing Joel to pick the ball up and read double-teams is the best way to guard him, as Nick Nurse's Toronto Raptors have long demonstrated. But coach Nash will likely rely on Griffin to be the first line of defense.

On the other end of the floor, Griffin's ability to knock down open triples may pose problems for the Sixers as well. Understandably, the Sixers like to position Embiid in the paint defensively. But by running plenty of pick-and-pop action with Griffin as the screener, Embiid may have to run out to the perimeter, leaving the paint vulnerable for attacks from Harden and Kevin Durant.

For these reasons it makes sense to ramp up Blake's minutes substantially in game two.