The Brooklyn Nets were poised to embrace a defensive identity after acquiring Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie at the trade deadline. Unlike the majority of the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era, the team was suddenly stacked with athletic, defensive-minded wings.

But those returns did not show up during a 1-6 start with the revamped roster. The Nets ranked 29th in defensive rating (124.3) while allowing 121.4 points per game during that span. However, the last 10 days have seen them win five of six, and it's no surprise that the hot stretch has coincided with a defensive turnaround.

Brooklyn leads the league in defensive rating (105.7) during that span, allowing 108 points per game. Two of their five wins came on the road against the NBA's No. 2 and 3 teams in Boston and Denver. The Nets held the Celtics to 16-of-37 (43.2 percent) shooting from the field and 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range in the second half during a 28-point comeback. They turned in an even more impressive showing Sunday, holding the Nuggets' high-powered offense to 51 second-half points on 16-of-41 (39 percent) shooting.

Denver entered the half with an eight-point lead behind a monstrous performance from MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic. Brooklyn responded with a dominant third quarter in which it held a 37-19 advantage.

Similar to the Boston turnaround, the Nets did their damage in the period using a small-ball lineup. After big man Nic Claxton picked up his third and fourth fouls with nine minutes remaining, Brooklyn closed the frame on a 27-10 run using Dinwiddie, Bridges, Royce O’Neale, and Finney-Smith, with Johnson and Joe Harris splitting the remaining spot.

The unit leaned heavily into a trap-and-rotate defense against Jokic, forcing the ball out of the big man's hands and welcoming shots from Denver's supporting cast. The strategy was highly effective, with the Nuggets shooting 2-of-13 while committing three turnovers to close the quarter. The following play is a great example.

When the Nuggets set an off-ball screen for Jokic, Dinwiddie hangs back to prevent the entry pass, daring Bruce Brown to shoot, while Harris shades and recovers. Dinwiddie then doubles on the entry with Bridges rotating from the weak-side corner to pick up Brown's cut. When Jokic passes out to Jamal Murray, Bridges jumps the lane to the corner skip pass while Dinwiddie recovers to Brown. Finney-Smith then fights to front Jokic in the post to break up the re-entry:

On the inbounds, the Nets switch a Jokic pindown for Murray. Bridges fronts Jokic while O'Neale disregards Brown in the corner, eventually rotating on the lob to double and force a difficult fadeaway, which he then rebounds:

Here the Nets switch the high ball screen by Jokic. Bridges fronts the seal while O'Neale and Dinwiddie shade halfway to prevent the dump-in. After a pass to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Johnson shades to Jokic's backside on the roll, inviting the skip pass before recovering. Bridges and Johnson then switch on Michael Porter Jr.'s baseline drive while O'Neale shades back to Jokic. Dinwiddie rotates down to take his man, leading to a turnover:

On this play, Bridges and Johnson switch the baseline screen between Porter and Murray before Johnson and Finney-Smith switch Jokic's pindown for Murray. Johnson fronts the Jokic seal with Bridges shading from the weak-side corner. Bridges then rotates to Murray's drive while Johnson and Finney-Smith stay on Jokic's front and backside. Johnson recovers on Jokic's release while Finney-Smith scram switches to the backside. Murray is forced into a fadeaway with the shot clock winding down with Brooklyn rebounding his miss:

Here the Nets again switch a high ball screen by Jokic. Bridges and O'Neale scram switch on the roll with the former recovering to Jeff Green in the corner. The action confuses Reggie Jackson, leading to a turnover and transition basket:

Another play that starts with a switch on a Jokic ball screen. O'Neale and Bridges again scram switch on the roll. O'Neale does a fantastic job fronting Jokic while Bridges and Finney-Smith shade heavily. This forces Murray into another difficult look late in the shot clock, which the Nets rebound:

This is simply great effort by Finney-Smith to battle for position on Jokic and force a turnover, something he and O'Neale did an excellent job of the entire second half:

After Brooklyn surrendered a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, Vaughn reverted back to his small-ball lineup in the final minutes. When the Nets needed another stop with 5.7 seconds remaining, they got it thanks to another perfectly timed double on the two-time MVP:

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Bridges would split a pair of free throws on the other end, giving the Nuggets the ball with 1.9 seconds left for another chance to tie or win the game. O'Neale's physicality fronting Jokic would again come up big as he forced the big man away from the basketball before carefully contesting a 3-pointer without fouling to secure the win:

Brooklyn may have stumbled upon something with this high-activity, small-ball lineup. Head coach Jacque Vaughn credited his team's defensive energy for flipping the game's momentum, and he seemed to recognize that group's impact on Denver's offense in the third quarter.

“We did a great job of staying together,” Vaughn said. “They came out in the third quarter with one of the most impressive quarters I’ve been around with this team. We started to fly around, 15 turnovers we produced tonight. Our ability to be disruptive, whether we were small or big, it was huge. … So we stayed together for an impressive win on the road.”

The Nets are beginning to show the continuity needed to execute their switch-heavy scheme. Only this time it comes with a roster stacked with players who seamlessly fit the strategy. Following the win in Denver, Dinwiddie said Brooklyn knows its capabilities on that end will allow them to compete with any team in the league.

“The one thing we can hang our hat on is if we do play defense we give ourselves a shot,” he said. “If we can hold a team to 105 or so, then we’re gonna have a chance to win that game every time because we’re gonna generate enough points. So we’re gonna have a puncher's chance every night with any team.”