The Brooklyn Nets continue to string together wins, as the road warriors are 10-3 away from Barclays Center. They sit in first place in the East at 18-8 after a huge 113-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks, led by the electric guard Trae Young, made it to the Conference Finals, one round further than the Nets went last season. Young averages the fourth-most points per game in the NBA with 26.5, just two behind overall leader, Kevin Durant's 28.5. So Steve Nash and company knew they needed something extra to slow him down. But they may have found help in an unlikely name.

Nic Claxton, the 22-year-old Georgia product (who has only played in 67 total NBA games) is the only big who allows the Nets to play switch-heavy and slow down a truly elite wing player.

Claxton was simply huge in this game. His energy, length, and athleticism changed the contest. He only played 17 minutes, likely because the team is exercising caution, given he missed so much time (he was out between October 25th and December 3rd) with a non-COVID illness. He finished with just four points and four rebounds. That's why box score watching is insufficient for understanding everything about basketball.

‘Well he's such a versatile defender,” explained Nets head coach Steve Nash after the win. “He's guarding [Hawks' big Clint] Capela one minute, he's guarding Trae Young next so we can go to our switching defense, just mix it up and keep bodies in front of the ball, and when he's able to guard like that it makes it very difficult for the other team,” said Nash.

Kevin Durant, who finished with 31 points, three blocks, six dimes, and five boards was clearly impressed as well.

“And then in the 4th quarter being able to switch everything,” said Durant. “All those screen-rolls that were maybe hurting us a little bit in the first half….We got length and athleticism out there with Nic, [James Johnson] and myself, then you got Patty [Mills] and James [Harden] who can space the floor, switch as well, so it was just a good lineup for us to finish the game and I'm glad the defense won it for us.”

“Tonight [Claxton] was incredible,” continued Durant. “Those two dunks, I think those really ignited our team, got our bench going and gave us some energy and we needed that.”

YES Networks' Ian Eagle even noted that Claxton had some friendly fire putting Nets teammate James Johnson on his “poster.”

The Nets buckled down in the fourth quarter on defense, allowing Atlanta just 14 points. The defense made some key adjustments and the counters limited Young and the Hawks. Young finished with 31 points and 10 assists but he shot just 2 of 8 from distance and missed some contested jumpers over Claxton's outstretched arms (7′ 2.5” wingspan) in crunch time.

“I think in the first half [LaMarcus Aldridge] was scoring the ball for us,” said Nash. “And doing a good job defensively but we had to change something in that second half and we thought bringing Nic on for his activity and length on both ends of the floor, but in particular when he switches on guards he's excellent, so putting him and Kevin in a switching defense where they can cover multiple positions I thought was a nice changeup for us…. thats where Nic is a special player cause he can guard multiple players positions.”

The high praise from his coach and teammates should be a big lift for Claxton's confidence. Although we're not sure he needed any.

 

After the big win, and playing in front of some friends and family, the South Carolina native talked about what he brings to the table for the Nets.

“By now people kind of know what I do,” said the third-year big. “Teams may not know but everybody in the organization, people that watch us closely they know that’s what I do. And I have a lot of practice guarding guys like that. Herky jerky smaller guards, guarding Kyrie [Irving]. I feel like that definitely helped me prepare for moments like that and I definitely take a lot of pride in that.”

This is two out of three games now, in Dallas and in Atlanta, where Claxton's ability to switch from big to superstar guard and back (Luka Doncic also felt his wrath recently) helped the Nets team limit a talented opponent. The best part is that he's still ramping back up from missing so much time.