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There is no Kyrie Irving around. James Harden has had significant struggles with his return to play from an injury and the new rules targeting non-basketball moves. But with those two seismic hurdles, the Brooklyn Nets cannot afford to slack in other departments.
There's one area where the Nets are really really slacking, and it can't all fall on The Beard to fix.
Of course, it's still early. As Nets head coach Steve Nash would remind us, it could simply be small-sample bias. But Nash has sounded especially concerned with one thing lately, so maybe it's not a fluke. That issue has been points in the paint.
Brooklyn averages 36.2 paint points per game, that ranks dead last in the entire NBA. Contrast that number with the San Antonio Spurs', who lead the league with 55.4 paint points per outing. On the flip side, the Nets allow teams to score 45.6 points in their paint per game, ranking 15th overall there. So on average, they're giving up a 9.4 point disparity in the area around the basket.
Harden has struggled but has still been a good overall player. Imagine if I told you there was an All-Star averaging 18.3 points, 8.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds, shooting 40 percent from Borough Hall and over 88 percent from the line, yet everyone was panicking over how bad he's been? It seems kind of crazy but that's where we are. Harden's lack of burst may be one reason the team struggles to get into the paint and get easy buckets. When he's right he's always wrecking a defense and getting to the basket. During the games where he's looked fast, he's been able to collapse the defense and find the open shooters.
However, he's been inconsistent to say the least.
This man is hard to guard. pic.twitter.com/7yjnBcx1fq
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 9, 2021
Harden hasn't had his favorite lob-partner in Nic Claxton recently (out with non-COVID illness). Perhaps that might help upon Claxton's return.
Coach Nash, following the most recent loss in Chicago which snapped a five-game winning streak, harped on the issue of not just paint points but the ball getting into the paint generally (since it can also lead to those kick outs to open 3 point shooters).
“I think we coulda done a better job getting physical with [the Bulls] the way they were with us, try and protect our paint a little bit better,” Nash shared. “I think it also made it tough on us that we weren’t getting in their paint at all. So a lot of long rebounds, easy for them to push the ball down the court, get into actions quickly, so just a poor fourth quarter for us.”
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In fact, Nash nearly brought up the team's lack of paint touches with regard to each unique question reporters asked him on Monday.
“Yeah I think we got plenty of good looks tonight,” Nash added. “But we didn’t get in the paint enough second half, really the fourth quarter. Didn’t create enough opportunities and get into the paint and they were more physical than us.”
It was the second night of a back-to-back set and reporters were generous, offering numerous chances to blame fatigue for the second half let-down. Instead, the second-year head coach pounded the same topic as hard as he'd apparently like his players to pound the paint.
“We gotta get in the paint…I think we gotta find ways to get ourselves in there, collapse the defense create opportunities.”
If you wanted to say Nash sounded like a broken record following the last contest, you wouldn't be out of bounds.
Yep, and-1. pic.twitter.com/QgYqPt3DPK
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 9, 2021
The team was outscored 42-17 by Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and the rest of the Bulls in the fourth and the coach wasn't happy.
It remains to be seen how the Nets can address the growing concerns on their offense, but they have to do it sooner rather than later. After all, the last thing they want is for teams to exploit that weakness like the Bulls did.
